The Gamer - Restart
by TheBlackDuelist
Summary: An AU story that retells the Manhwa known as "The Gamer" where our protagonist, Han Jee-Han will be forced to not only grow as a warrior but also as a man while he faces the cruel dangers of the Abyss without his "Gamer's Mind" passive. Rated T as this series will take on a much darker tone as Jee-Han climbs to the top of the Abyss, crushing anyone that gets in his way.
1. (Arc 1) Chapter 1

**A/N: Greetings ladies and gentleman, TheBlackDuelist here just showcasing a new series I've been working on for quite some time. I've heard many complaints about the story known as "The Gamer" and its lack of progressive plot development and snail pacing so I'm here to address those matters in an AU fan fiction known as "The Gamer – Restart".**

 **To sum it up, this story takes place in the same universe as the canon web comic but will eventually branch off completely and turn into its own unique story that I have in mind. You'll notice some noticeable differences here and there regarding certain events but I'll let you discover those on your own.**

 **Please be patient with this story, I know at first glance it just seems as a copy and paste of canon but I needed to lay the groundwork before I branch off.**

 **Now of course, the biggest detail you'll soon discover is that Jee-Han will not be in possession of the "Gamer's Mind" passive ability. I always found that it was a wasted opportunity for the author to limit Jee-Han's potential character development because of it and so we'll get to see how Jee-Han handles the dangers of the Abyss without having his emotions suppressed (Overlord anyone lol?).**

 **Anyway, that's all for now. This first arc is what I call the "Zombie Legion" arc.**

 **I hope you all enjoy the story and if you like it, drop a review and let me know what you think. Let's get started!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fanfiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 1**

Everyone has a goal.

Isn't it natural for every person to have something in life they want to achieve? Aren't we taught from a young age to strive to be the best that we can be? That's normal, right?

If someone were to tell you that they have no goals in life, would you laugh at that person? You'd be surprised at how many people would since they've been taught otherwise. Speaking of which, who was the one that decided that everyone must have goals in life? It wasn't something humans were born with and yet, it's something we are constantly striving for.

What about if instead of having a goal in life, people just wanted to play games all day? Of course, it must sound silly to most people who are functioning members of society. The idea must sound absolutely ludicrous to them, laughable even.

But not to him.

Not to Han Jee-Han, a sophomore high school student.

That kind of life would perfectly be acceptable in his mind. A life where you don't have to worry about getting good grades in class, getting a high paying job, or even finding your suitable partner to marry. None of that would matter to him, games are much more important than that.

If only life were that simple he thought, if only life could be like that he wanted. Such a life would be his greatest fantasy, his greatest joy. However, it just wasn't meant to be.

Staring at a clear blue sky that dawned over a vastly populated city, Han Jee-Han frowned with his elbow supporting on the desk, supporting his head that rested on his hand. He slightly turned his head and scanned his classroom, eyeing all of the other students having their own private conversations.

Usually, he wouldn't spare any of them a second glance, bare short of the cute girls in his class, but lately he couldn't stop the increasing urge to glance at them. As for the reason?

He looked at a male student in the back.

 **«** **Level 3 Gang Soo-Jin** **»**

Then, he looked at a girl near the entrance.

 **«** **Level 2 Hong Hyuk-Gi** **»**

Finally, he looked at a boy at the front of the class.

 **«** **Level 3 Yi Yo-Gang** **»**

There's your answer.

Somehow, these _things_ began appearing on every person he came across from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed. Naturally, he thought himself to be in some ridiculous dream that must have no doubt sprouted from his desire to be a game character.

These thoughts were quickly banished when he punched himself straight in the jaw and realized that he was experiencing pain.

You can't experience pain in a dream, that's common sense right?

But how else could you explain something as physically impossible as this? His mother had always warned him that playing too many games would have its consequences, but surely this couldn't have been what she meant.

He sighed again.

"Yo"

Suddenly, Jee-Han felt a firm but warm sensation on his shoulder and recognized it as the hand of his best friend since childhood, Shin Sun-Il.

He was standing behind him with his usual friendly smile that seemed to light up the room as his spiky lime hair covered his right eye. Once again, his eyes were shut and Jee-Han absently wondered how the hell he could see anyone like that but decided it was best not to question.

"You look distressed, what's on your mind?" Sun-Il's voice was clear and confident, as expected of the Chunbumoon's heir.

Jee-Han couldn't help but look above his best friend's head and notice the statistics that were being displayed.

« **Chunbumoon's Heir** **»**

 **Level 25 Shin Sun-Il**

From what Jee-Han knew, Sun-Il had been a practitioner of the Korean Traditional Martial Arts, Taekyeon and Tae Kwon Do for almost a decade. Jee-Han could never really tell the difference between them so he classified them both as "The Art of whopping some serious ass". He's also won a few gold medals here and there, basically giving him a free ride to college with paid tuition as a bonus, the lucky bastard.

" _If he wasn't my best friend, I'd curse him till my dying breath"_ Jee-Han contemplated as he sighed again and turned away, confusing Sun-Il.

Sun-Il looked at his friend and didn't know what was wrong with him. Recently, he had been acting weirder than usual and for some strange reason always kept staring at people alot longer than what one would call comfortable. It was beginning to creep him out.

As Jee-Han looked at the window again and saw his reflection, his own game statistics popped up above his head as well.

 **«** **The Gamer** **»**

 **Level 4 Han Jee-Han**

Jee-Han still didn't know how his life became a game or if he was in some sort of crazy deep dream. However, all he knew was that he needed answers and he needed them now.

* * *

 **[6:30 PM, the Han Family Residence]**

Cooking in a spacious kitchen, Han Jung-Sook (also identified as "The Gamer's mamma") was chopping some carrots and humming happily. Even though her husband was still on his ridiculously lengthy business trip, her vibrant cheerfulness never wavered for a second.

Having already made peace with it, she focused her attention on the new soap operas that began airing this week that were simply amazing. She didn't think much of them at first but the allure of the growing plot revolving around a waitress's brother's serial killer's marriage scandal was surprisingly tasteful.

She hastily looked around the kitchen for some tofu to begin preparing the next meal but noticed an absence of it.

"Jee-Han, go buy some Tofu!"

There was no answer and Jung-Sook knew he had heard him but she wasn't worried. It would be a cold day in hell before her son ignored her.

Upstairs, Jee-Han per usual around this time was burying himself into a mountain of homework. He heard his mother calling for him and purposely ignored her. It wasn't to be rude, he'd always obey what they told him to do if it made sense to him. However, there was no need for her to call him. The reason? Because soon, he'd know about it one way or the other.

 **DING!**

 **«A Quest has been created!»**

" _Just on time_ _..._ " He inwardly sighed at _another_ pointless quest he had been given. Ever since he had obtained this new "Gaming" power, quests like these would pop up everywhere...and he meant _everywhere_.

Jee-Han quickly identified it as what RPG's refer to as [Alerts] that appear once the requirement of taking a quest is fulfilled. He clicked on the arrow sign per usual, prompting the notification to rattle a bit and then morph into a more detailed message.

 **«Quest Alert: Mom's Errand: Buy Tofu!»**

 **The Gamer's mother wants Tofu to use in dinner. Bring her the tofu she wants quickly!**

 **Time limit: 1 hour.**

 **Completion award: Exp 500 + Increased closeness with mother.**

 **Completion failure: Mother's nagging + Decreased trust from mother.**

 **Yes or No?**

" _Son of a..._ " Jee-Han's eyebrows twitched as he was hoping for a more important quest but it turned out to just be another one of his mom's errands. He was getting sick of this.

He sighed and clicked "Yes", initiating the quest. He got up from his chair and walked downstairs, ignoring his mother calling for him a second time as he grabbed his wallet from his jacket.

"Is Tofu all you need?" He asked.

"Yeah, I need the tofu before the stew loses its flavor so hurry up" She replied without even turning to face him.

Jee-Han opened his front door and slipped into his running shoes.

"Alright, I'll be back soon"

He left his house and began walking to the grocery store that was only a couple of miles away. As he was walking, he began to mull over about the first time he had "leveled up" and how he hastily dumped his points in STR, aka Strength.

Logically speaking, what good is strength in modern society? A person has no need for strength if they're going to be managing a company or a business.

A sigh escaped Jee-Han's mouth once again as he realized how stupid he had been. Leveling up was hard enough so carelessly spending those stat points was clearly a foolish decision.

Speaking of leveling up, Jee-Han had spent most of his free time thinking of ways to increase his level. Since he was stuck with this "Gaming" ability, he might as well make the most out of it and what better way to exploit it than to increase his experience points. At least, that's what he thought.

He ran some tests, such as working out with some dumbbells and also doing math equations repeatedly which netted him a few experience points, but at the rate he was going, it would take weeks to level up again.

Suddenly, he remembered seeing Sun-Il's Level 25 status earlier. How did he manage to level up so much? Was it because of his training? It made sense, he's been stuck in that dojo of his for years so it's understandable that he's above the average human. But still, Jee-Han couldn't help but feel jealous.

He bought the tofu his mother had asked for and made his way back home. He took off his shoes and left the white shopping bag on the table.

"Thanks Hun, I'll have dinner prepared in a few minutes" His mother still hadn't moved from her chopping position.

"Whatever"

He made his way back upstairs and sat back down into his chair before jumping back a little when another notification popped up.

 **«You completed the Quest "Mom's Errand: Buy Tofu!"»**

 **You've gained 500 experience + Increased closeness with Mother**

" _Well, at least that gave me some experience points. I just wish there was a way to get points faster..._ " He considered before diving back into his mountain of homework.

" _I swear to god, the next time I level up I'm putting all my points into INT. I bet I can become as smart as those geniuses that get perfect scores"._

He absently wondered if some of them had the same abilities as him and dumped their points into INT before directing his focus back to the homework.

 **[Half and Hour Later]**

Stretching his body, Jee-Han got up from his chair and let out a satisfied moan as he just finished the last of his homework. He hopped onto his computer and booted up World of War craft with a sly grin on his face.

"Heh, I wonder if I increase my INT then I'll be able to play this game better and blow everyone else out of the water?" He snickered.

As Jee-Han played one of his favorite games, he couldn't stop thinking about where this ability had come from and why it was given to him in the first place. Surely he couldn't have been the only person in the world to receive this bizarre power? As awesome as that would be, Jee-Han had to be realistic.

Not to mention, the biggest question he was facing at the moment was why on earth couldn't he see his mother's level or title? He could see everyone else's perfectly fine and yet, his mom Jung-Sook was a complete mystery as she only had question marks above her head.

Could she possibly be an impostor? This thought didn't last long as Jee-Han remembered the sweet taste of her cooking and knew no one else could replicate his mother's finesse.

It was incredibly frustrating; his ultimate goal was to just live life like a game and now that he obtained something similar to it he had no idea what to do next.

" _I just wish I had some answers_..."

* * *

 **[9:30 PM, A few blocks away from Jee-Han's House]**

The sun had set and the moon had risen, illuminating the dark streets with its beautiful clear rays.

Standing on top of a building gazing at the moon was a man wearing an impressive black suit and black shades on his face. Overall, he looked as if he was the owner of some sort of wealthy company and hailed from a noble background.

The man in question looked downwards towards the streets that were crawling with abominations that everyone would classify as "Zombies" and raised his hand that was resting inside his pockets.

"Let's begin"

A command, a simple one at that was all he needed to cause a dark red sphere to appear in the middle of the street crowded with zombies. All of a sudden, it grew several times larger and began to suck the unsuspecting zombies into its endless void as they howled with anger and confusion. Every zombie in the vicinity was completely erased and the sphere swiftly moved towards the summoner, slowing evaporating its essence into his raised palm. It only took a few seconds before the sphere had vanished and the summoner was left with a blank expression as he jumped off of the building and landed on the ground with such artistic grace.

"I suppose that's enough for today..."

Before he could do anything else, a torrent of flames erupted from the ground beneath him and he quickly jumped back a few steps, placing both of his hands at his side.

"That's as far as you go, Black Summoner!" A strong and powerful voice shouted as the man in the tuxedo juggled his head to the side to notice vast amounts of people surrounding him on all fronts. It didn't take long before there were over fifty individuals, both male and female alike and had him completely boxed in.

"Hooh... if it isn't the Yunhonmoon Clan. This is quite the unexpected entrance you've made here." His voice held no traces of fear or despair; if anything it had a playful and whimsical tone.

"Cut the crap and explain to us what exactly you're doing here" Stepping forward from a large group of the people gathered was a tall, slender looking man with vibrant orange hair and yellow eyes wearing a plain white shirt and black pants. He had a youthful looking face with several scars on his eye brows, a clear indication that he had experienced a few close calls.

"Whatever do you mean? I believe there's no law against taking a stroll through the streets" The man in the tuxedo responded nonchalantly.

The rough looking man grunted in annoyance. The bastard was making fun of him.

"You know damn well what I mean; this area belongs to the Yunhonmoon. You should know that making Illusion barriers in our jurisdiction without permission is forbidden!" He ended his proclamation with a shout.

The man in the tuxedo didn't even flinch in the face of the intimidating aura of his opposition and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not like I care about those rules your clan has set anyway. This area has proven resourceful for my plans so I'll be using it however I see fit."

Suddenly, the tension in the air had taken a dark turn and the members gathered around the man in the tuxedo began to show their hostile intent. Even in the face of it, tuxedo man didn't seem fazed at all and continued to stand there with a somber expression.

"Heh, is that right..." The youthful man's face twisted into a more mischievous grin as he pounded his fist with an open palm. Flames began to pour out of his fist and he glared at the man in the tuxedo as if he was a bear about to hunt his prey.

"The Yunhonmoon always tries to reason with any potential enemies before making a sound judgment but it's clear that you have no intention of leaving this area. If that's the case, allow us to personally teach you what happens to dumb asses that don't know their place"

The man in the tuxedo sighed as he adjusted his shades and reached into his pocket, pulling out a strangely shaped item.

Confused, the rough looking man squinted his eyes.

"And just what the hell's that supposed to be?"

The man in the tuxedo crushed the item he was holding in his hands, shocking everyone gathered around him as he grinned devilishly towards the muscular man in front of him.

"Well like you said; I'm just showing you your place"

* * *

 **[8:00 AM, Han Family Residence]**

"Crap! I'm going to be late!"

Rushing out of his house with a piece of toast in his mouth and a half buttoned shirt was Han Jee-Han as he sprinted down the street. Getting a little too carried away playing his games, he had slept pretty late last night and had woken up to a very pissed off mother that had to teach him another painful lesson of life; when your mom says wake up, you wake the hell up.

He rubbed his pour butt as he remembered the dreadful experience and finally finished fixing his tie and wolfing down his breakfast. He was glad he grabbed something to eat this time; going to school without _any_ food for the morning was nothing short of hellish.

Passing the corner street, he suddenly felt an odd sensation in the air. It was difficult to explain but he could tell that something had happened, as if the weather had changed drastically. It was a strange feeling to say the least but he decided to ignore it for now before stopping short in the middle of the street.

At that moment, he saw two figures standing across from one another on separate buildings, well actually three figures if you count the bizarre three headed dog, beast, thing whatever it was called that was standing behind one of the figures that looked like some sort of Mafia boss.

Jee-Han turned his gaze at the other person and he blushed a bit when he saw her. A beauty, definitely a teenager around Jee-Han's age was wearing a white and brown school uniform. A sudden gust of wind blew her beautiful crimson hair back and she took a fighting stance, showing off her well toned legs.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, a question popped up into Jee-Han's mind as he regained his senses.

What the hell was going on here?

* * *

 **A/N:** **Chapter 1 is completed! I hope you guys enjoyed the written adaption, I'm sure it'll never be as enticing as reading a drawn comic but I hope that you can still visualize my story properly.**

 **As I mentioned earlier, you'll notice that most of the canon events have been compressed and even shortened and skipped. Also, scenes that weren't in the comic that I feel should have been shown (such as Sung-Gon crippling the Yunhunmoon) were added so yay for that.**

 **I adapted chapter 1 plus a little bit of chapter 2 of the original so I'll see how that works out for the rest of the chapters.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**


	2. (Arc 1) Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter 2 folks, I'll cut straight to the chase and dive right in. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fanfiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 2**

As millions of questions started popping into Jee-Han's head, he tossed glances between the two unknown figures standing across from another and frantically observed the surrounding area.

" _What the hell... wasn't there an old man jogging by that pole?_ " From his observations, with the shape that old man was in there was no chance in hell he could have jogged out of Jee-Han's vision in this short amount of time.

He frantically kept looking around, his heart beat growing faster with each passing second. His breathing was starting to become rigid as he tried to calm down but couldn't as he was being crushed by the amount of pressure those two were creating. He stole a quick glance over the woman's status bar, his eyes widening in shock at her apparent level.

 **«Soul Blaze Fist User»**

 **Level 32 Kwon Shi-Yun**

What?

Did he read that right?

He looked again just to make sure he was reading it correctly and nodded to himself before his jaw dropped completely.

" _Level 3-32!? Who the hell is this amazon woman with such a high level!?"_ He then realized that if he were to compare the both of them, she would be at least _eight_ times stronger than himself. The mere thought made him shiver in fear and he could feel beads of sweat beginning to fall from his forehead.

Against his better judgment, he turned his head to examine the other figure and prayed that he wouldn't be in for another surprise. Unfortunately, he was in for another surprise.

 **«Black Summoner»**

 **Level 38 Hwan Sung-Gong**

This had to be cruel joke. This dude seriously had a level of 38, even making him stronger than the amazon woman in front of him. If Jee-Han wasn't settled on running away before, he definitely was now.

He didn't even understand what they were doing standing on top of those buildings in the first place but it surely couldn't result in anything good for him.

"W _hat the hell's going on here!? Wait why do I care, I just need to run! Yes that's it, I should run!"_

With his mind made up, Jee-Han slowly began backing away from the scenario and was planning to run like hell the moment they were out of sight. It was his only chance to survive.

Adjusting his glasses, Sung-Gong examined the young girl before him with a murderous glare that could intimidate any normal person. He quickly took note of the girl's blazing aura that surrounded her body and chuckled, coming to a realization.

"The Soul Blaze Fist, meaning to burn one's soul. I've heard that everyone in Yunhonmoon practices this ancient Martial Arts style, is that correct?"

The girl in question didn't even bother to hide her open distaste and tightened her fists, rage filling her eyes.

"You bastard... How dare you attack my clan, Black Summoner!" She roared, startling Jee-Han during his attempted plot to escape unnoticed.

"You're mistaken. I only acted out in self defense against your clan; they're the ones who had to stick their noses in my business, which of course cost them dearly."

"Don't act like your innocent! You know the rules that were established by the Yunhumoon, Chunbumoon, and Existence Eater. You broke the agreement first and violated the terms, so take responsibility for your actions!"

At this point, Jee-Han had stopped attempting to run away and tried to listen in on what they were arguing about but he couldn't make sense of anything they were saying. All he heard was stuff about clans, agreements, and taking responsibility.

" _Wait a minute... did that tuxedo dude knock up that red haired chick and is trying to get out of the relationship?_ _But he looks old enough to be her father... is he a pedo?"_ These dangerous thoughts were quickly dismissed before Jee-Han tried to focus back on escaping.

"You know, for such a well known and prestigious clan of martial artists, they weren't as strong as I expected them to be."

Shi-Yun's eye brows twitched in response as she heard her clan being disrespected and her aura began to burn with more rage than ever.

Sung-Gong smiled lightly before patting his three headed beast on its head.

"Well, it seems you're too riled up to listen to reason so why don't we dispense with words and use actions instead".

He snapped his fingers. As if a trigger was released, his three headed dog roared with all of its might before pouncing towards Shi-Yun. She clicked her tongue in response and also jumped from her spot and headed straight for the creature.

Whilst in mid air, one of the dog heads produced a column of flames towards Shi-Yun but instead of dodging, she leaped right into the flames with her fist forward, barely phased by it.

" _Am I dreaming right now? I want to wake up please!_ " Jee-Han watched the two engage each other in mid air with a flabbergasted expression and lost the strength to move his legs.

" _I've got to... move!"_ With quick thinking, he pounded his arms into his legs to cease the shaking and decided to make a break for it in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, he didn't get very far before his entire body stopped moving and he felt a slimy and disgusting sensation on his ankle.

" _Did I step in some jelly or someth- What the hell!?_ " Looking down at the source, a poodle of brown ooze was sucking in his leg and then suddenly, it began to stretch and lifted him into the air upside down, causing Jee-Han to scream like a little girl.

"Hoh... now look at what my cute little slime has caught. If you value the life of this boy, you'll quit trying to interfere in my plans, Yunhonmoon girl" Sung-Gong stated with confident grin as his three headed dog landed back next to him.

Shi-Yun grunted as she landed softly on the ground and glared at Sung-Gong. She then looked at the dumb looking civilian that got himself caught and cursed her bad luck.

" _Damn...he's using a hostage. How'd this kid even get in here in the first place? Whatever, I'll worry about that later. I can't let him get dragged into our mess so the question is how do I save him?_ " Shi-Yun couldn't figure a way out of this situation.

As he was being hung upside down, Jee-Han finally stopped screaming and took a few deep breaths before frantically staring at the mysterious man in the tuxedo and saw a large group of slime's being gathered below his feet. He didn't know how he was doing it but he believed that he was the source of these monsters and scanned him up and down to see if he could recognize him.

Suddenly...

 **«DING!»**

 **A skill has been created through a special act! Through continuous observation, a skill to find the target's information, "Observe", has been created.**

 **[Observe (Passive) Lvl 1: EXP: 0.00%]**

 **A skill created by "The Gamer" to analyze and showcase information regarding anything he identifies.**

Huh?

Jee-Han didn't understand a clue what was going on but the notification that appeared before him snapped him out of his flailing and he read the information regarding his new skill.

"What's this, a new skill? I can create skills? That's awesome but right now I need a way to survive this crazy situation!"

He used all of his strength to look up and examine the disgusting brown slime holding on to him at the moment.

"Well I might as well give it a shot, please do something useful. Observe"

« **Black Slime Level 16** »

 **HP: 1200 | MP: 500**

 **A slime that lives in the demon world. It keeps its demonic power inside, and has the ability to strengthen its body**.

"So... these monsters have stats too? Makes sense but this is useless right now! How do I escape this thing's grip, it's so tough!"

Sung-Gong stared at the dangling body of Jee-Han for a bit and wondered why the boy was talking to himself before dismissing it and turning back to Shi-Yun.

"Well? What's your answer Blaze Fist user of Yunhonmoon? Will you abandon this ignorant bystander in order to avenge your clan? Are the Yunhumoon all that heartless?"

Shi-Yun began to grit her teeth in frustration at the cheap taunts he was throwing at her. Who the hell was he to call her heartless when he put most of her friends and comrades in the hospital for months for no justified reason! She remembered the nightmare of being informed of the incident yesterday and rushing back to headquarters only to hear their cries of agony. Even her own brother, someone she looked up to greatly and respected was lying in a hospital bed covered in bandages all over and was so humiliated he wanted to take his own life. As his sister and also as a member of the Yunhonmoon clan; she had to make Sung-Gong pay.

However, her clan's teachings came above her own personal priorities and she needed to save the life of a bystander even if it meant giving up on her revenge. It was the law.

Meanwhile, Jee-Han kept frantically looking for a way out of this mess before trying his hands at punching the slime. However, his attacks were completely ineffective as the slime's physical body was just a tub of ooze, therefore absorbing all of the impact.

"Damn it; let go of me!" He tried again but it was fruitless. Desperate and running out of options as the blood was beginning to rush to his head, he grabbed the slime with all of his might and tried ripping it apart. Similar to before, it proved useless as it began stretching with every pull and didn't have any long lasting effect.

"Come on! I used some points on STR so help me out here! Please, I want to live! I don't want to die!" His cries of desperation became louder and he gave it absolutely everything he had until...

« **DING!** »

 **A skill has been created through a special act! A skill that uses excessive strength, [Rip] has been created.**

 **[Rip (Active) Lvl 1: EXP: 0.00%]**

 **A skill that rips apart an enemy or an object using a strong force. Increases tearing force by 30 %.**

...

" _Hell... to the yes! Thank you god! Thank you so much!"_ A relieved smile graced Jee-Han's face while he wiped away a few tears in his eyes. He then screamed with all of his might!

"Rip!"

His hand began to glow a beaming yellow and finally, he was able to tear apart the slime's body that was holding onto his legs, escaping from its clutches.

"Yes! I'm free, I'm a free man!"

His shouts of victory were short lived as he looked back down and realized he was falling from such a distance.

" _Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Somebody save me!"_ His prayers went unanswered as he collided with the ground with a heavy impact and clutched his back in agony.

"Son of a…damn that hurt… wait no, it doesn't hurt" Hardly believing it himself, Jee-Han scanned his body up and down and wondered how he was okay after falling from that distance.

Before anything though…

"I'm alive!" Jee-Han began jumping for joy that he was still alive after that fiasco. During his celebration, he didn't even pay attention to the blank stares coming from Sung-Gong and Shi-Yun who didn't quite believe what they just saw.

"Just who..." Sung-Gong began.

"-Is this guy?" Shi-Yun finished.

Seeing that she was distracted by the dancing boy, Sung-Gong used the opportunity and ordered his beast to attack. It barked before shortly pouncing off the building and opened its jaws to tear the girl to shreds.

It didn't even take a second for Shi-Yun to regain her focus, taking a martial arts stance in the process and then proceeding to jump high into the air towards the demon. She thrust her elbow and landed a solid blow on one of the heads, sending it crashing backwards. Following up, she shot off the ground like a rocket with amazing power and delivered a rising upper cut to the dazed beast. The damage was more than enough to wipe out all of its remaining strength and it disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

" _A-Amazing…_ " Jee-Han observed as he had stopped dancing and concentrated on the fight in progress.

Before Shi-Yun could take a break, she noticed another brown slime forming in her blind spot waiting to launch a sneak attack and clicked her tongue in annoyance before clasping both of her hands together in a praying position.

"Art of Soul Blaze Fist Number: Soul Blaze Flame!"

In response to her chanting, a massive amount of blue flames began surrounding Shi-Yun and completely enveloped her body in what can only be called a cloak of fire. Having no brain cells, the slime tried to swallow Shi-Yun completely whole and surrounded her body with its slimy figure.

However, it was useless as it quickly burst into several small pieces and Shi-Yun was unharmed as she glared at Sung-Gong who kept a blank face at the new events.

"What now, Black Summoner? Your hostage was able to escape so now there's nothing stopping me from punishing you for harming my clan. I hope you're prepared" She adopted another stance.

Unexpectedly, Sung-Gong began to clap as a mild chuckle escaped his lips, confusing and frustrating Shi-Yun at the same time.

"Very impressive Blaze Fist user, I can see you're different from that riff raft I dealt with yesterday. You're clearly much more adept at using your clan's secret techniques so it'd be rude of me to try and defeat you with such a low level creature. Allow me to fix that."

Bringing out a chain ring that was attached to his finger, a magic circle appeared behind Sung-Gong and out from it popped a eight meter long killer mantis that had acidic drool dangling from its mouth, repulsing Shi-Yun as she tried her best to ignore the grotesque scene.

Back with Jee-Han, just as he was distracted from watching the amazing battle between the two, he suddenly saw a large shadow covering his body and slowly turned around to see _another_ black slime, this time aiming for him.

"Shit!" He stumbled a bit before running as fast as he could and was able to narrowly dodge the slime's attack. As he gained some distance, he noticed the slime moving in a similar pattern while it attempted to grab his knee again, but this time he knew what to expect and jumped backwards and avoided it.

"Phew, good thing this thing's moves are slow and its attacks are predictable."

« **[Observe]'s level has risen by one.** »

" _Huh? How'd that happen, I wasn't even using the skill… oh wait! Is it because I was able to notice that the slime's attack patterns were the same? So that's how it is…"_ he began thinking as he decided to try out the next level of his skill.

"Observe!"

« **Black Slime Level 16** »

 **HP: 1200 (1100) | MP: 500**

 **It moves slower than a human's running speed, but is quite fast at jumping towards whoever gets close.**

Jee-Han instantly noticed that the description this time had slightly more information than before and confirmed that his Observe ability had gotten stronger.

" _But still, this information really helps! My_ [ ** _Rip_** _]_ _attack from earlier did 100 points of damage, meaning all I got to do is hit this guy 11 more times with it and I can win!"_

Though he thought it was easy, he noticed one major flaw in his plan.

Courage.

His feet were shaking, his face was covered in sweat, and overall he was simply stressed out at the prospect of being killed by something that looks like a rip off of Nutella. He wanted to run, run so fast and never look back. He wasn't some sort of RPG hero; he was just a normal high school student that was going to live a boring and uneventful life. How did he end up in a situation like this? Was this god's way of trolling him?

This was the worst and yet, in the depths of his heart he couldn't believe any of this real. No matter how real it seemed the idea of fighting monsters and gaining experience in real life was impossible.

However, he didn't have time to think about what was real or not. He needed to win to survive and his instincts were telling him that he couldn't get out of here unless he killed this slime thingy. He was going to survive!

Suddenly, the slime pounced at him and Jee-Han threw his hands over his head an dodged for his life, rolling on the floor to safety as the slime missed its target. He took a deep breath and observed the slime, noticing that it was barely moving.

" _It looks like it needs time to recharge to do another attack, is it like a cool down? If that's the case…!"_

Jee-Han waited, he began to count the seconds before the slime could use its attack again. Several seconds passed before the slime abruptly pounced once more and Jee-Han dodged again, this time with more grace as he knew how it would attack.

Once the slime landed on the ground, Jee-Han smirked to himself and ran in as fast as his legs could carry him. He grabbed a large chunk of the slime and with all of his might..

"Rip!" He constantly shouted and began to start chucking slime pieces all over the place.

« **Critical Hit!** »

Jee-Han barely noticed the new notification sign before the slime began to start oozing out of control before evaporating, leaving nothing but a trail of black smoke.

Falling to his knees, Jee-Han exhaled and tried to catch his breath as he could feel his heart pumping with so much adrenaline that he felt it would burst at any minute.

He did it.

He _actually_ did it.

The amount of joy and relief that he was feeling at this moment was indescribable and he felt tremendously proud of himself. He defeated a Level 16 Slime all on his own and came out with nothing but a few scratches, no doubt an impressive feat for an ordinary guy.

« **DING!** »

« **You have g** **ained 1590 experience!** »

« **Your Level has increased by 1** »

« **Your Level has increased by 1** »

He noticed the blue messages but didn't really give a crap about what they said, he was just thanking the gods that he had made it out of that alive. If he had to go through things like these each time to level up, then he didn't even want to think about the kind of crap those two went to get to such high levels.

Before he could fully relax, the sound of a mantis screeching in pain altered his attention and he turned his head to see Shi-Yun "fisting" the Mantis in the stomach while blue flames erupted from behind the abominations backside.

Jee-Han swallowed his spit and wondered if it was possible to obtain her magnitude of strength if he reached the same level.

As the monster disappeared into nothingness, Jee-Han quickly looked for the source of its summoner but couldn't find Sung-Gong anywhere.

" _Did he run away? But what was he doing here in the first place. Not that I mind, if I don't see that guy again it'll be too soon_ "

Just as Jee-Han was about to go check on the red haired girl to see if she had left as well, he turned his head and let out another girlish squeal when he came face to face with the lady in question who stared at him. He clutched his poor heart that felt like it was going to have a heart attack and backed away slowly but she began walking towards him.

" _What? Leave me alone! I've had enough of you freaks coming after me!"_ He continued to stagger backwards until he was up against a wall and she stopped in front of him and narrowed her eyes.

"You… just what are you?"

His breathing calmed down a bit but he was still incredibly nervous, as one wrong move and he could end up with a fire fist up the ass.

"What... do you mean?" He needed to know what _she_ wanted to know about him first before answering her questions.

"Are you slow? I asked just what exactly are you since that slime wasn't something an ordinary person could defeat."

" _Fair enough… but how am I supposed to answer this question? Can I seriously tell her I have the ability called The Gamer and live life like an RPG? Would she buy it? Oh crap I'm taking too long and she's getting angry_ "

By the way, she was tapping her foot impatiently on the ground as she crossed her arms, she must want answers quick.

Taking a deep breath, Jee-Han stood up straight and looked her in the eye.

"My name is Han Jee-Han, Age 18. I'm a high school student with a special power. Does that… satisfy you?"

The silence that followed was almost unbearable as she studied him up and down and placed a hand on her chin.

" _Is she… checking me out? Could it possibly be love at first sight!?_ " He wondered.

"You have a special power? Huh, I never would have guessed it considering how dumb you look."

Aw, hell no.

" _What did this bitch just say!?_ " Jee-Han snarled in his mind as he looked downwards, trying to avoid the humiliation of eye contact.

Shi-Yun nodded her head and pointed a finger at Jee-Han who flinched at the sudden action.

"Your name and face. I memorized it."

With that, she turned around and walked away and somehow, her body seemed to just vanish out of nowhere. With no more strength left, Jee-Han fell to his knees as he clutched his heart and sighed.

"Seriously, just what the hell is going to happen to me?"

* * *

 **A/N: So ladies and gentlemen, we've finished Chapter 2 here and I believe I adapted about two chapters into one so we'll see how that works for you guys.**

 **This chapter was longer than the first one since I didn't know where to end it off but I decided on using the middle of chapter 3 to give us a breather and this seemed like a good spot.**

 **I just want to inform people that this chapter is quite a significant one because of Jee-Han's lack of the "Gamer's Mind" passive ability that allowed him to stay calm during the engagement. As such, I tried to showcase his more human emotions such as fear and despair more and as a result, I created a more worrisome Jee-Han that has to keep taking deep breaths to stay calm but can't just suddenly start acting as if nothing's happening.**

 **See you all next time!**


	3. (Arc 1) Chapter 3

**A/N: Let's keep the ball rolling and head straight into Chapter 3. Oh, just a heads up you'll notice that I'll be displaying the current skills and stats of Jee-Han at the end of each chapter from now on just so that people won't get confused.**

 **Without further ado, let's continue!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fanfiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 3**

[ **8:30 AM, Yeogang High School]**

Sun-Il sighed. Before class had begun he was wondering why Jee-Han hadn't arrived yet and feared for the boy's life. Their teacher may have looked harmless but tardiness to class was something he did not take lightly.

When Jee-Han finally arrived, Sun-Il narrowed his eyes when he noticed that he was out of breath, sweating profusely and seemed to just be on edge. What happened to him?

Jee-Han didn't even get a chance to explain his circumstances before he was doing the downward dog with both his hands on the floor and his ass in plain view for his teacher to strike.

"Why are you late?" He asked.

"T-Teacher, please let me just explain.."

"Excuses, excuses... let's do five times." He raised his favourite stick that was labelled the "Rod of Love" and smacked Jee-Han's butt.

"Agh!" Jee-Han screamed as he felt a stinging sensation from his backside.

"I want you kids to understand that I don't do this because I enjoy it, I'm only trying to keep you all diligent and on the right path. Do you understand?"

Jee-Han knew he was right and weakly nodded. Other than giving his students beatings if they were late, their teacher never got mad at anything else and would always strive to help any student that was in trouble. It's his form of "tough love" that he uses whenever anyone does something that "strays from the right path" or whatever it's called.

Jee-Han took a look at the top of his teacher's head to view his stats.

 **«Passionate Teacher»**

 **Level 15 Do Gi-Hyun**

With a level like that, it made sense that he could beat the crap out of any street punk that tried to attack him after school. Jee-Han still had goose bumps when he heard about how a bunch of students that were beaten for being late tried to ambush him after school and all ended up with broken bones.

"What the hell are you staring at?" Gi-Hyun smacked Jee-Han on his butt again and made him make an embarrassing squealing sound, causing some of the students to snicker in the back. Jee-Han felt like he was going to cry before noticing a new notification message.

 **«** **DING!** **»**

 **A skill has been created through a special action. Through the power of your body to endure pain and damage, "Physical Endurance" has been created.**

" _Are you freaking serious!? I don't want to make a new skill in the middle of a beating!"_ Jee-Han's pleas went unanswered as he was hit a couple of more times, increasing the mastery of his new skill.

" _Somebody... please save my ass..._ "

After his torture was finished, the teacher instructed him to sit back down and warned him that if he was late again it would be doubled. Jee-Han took the hint and walked as fast as he could to his seat while rubbing his poor aching bottom.

As he sat down, he tossed a glance at his best friend who had a sorrowful expression on his face an shrugged his shoulders before turning back to face the teacher.

" _That bastard..._ " He seethed before bringing out his notebooks and utensils.

His teacher was saying something about studying to get into a good college and that those who already gave up on college should look for a job. Truthfully, he didn't care for either and kept his head low to avoid contact before the class ended and his teacher left.

He sighed as he dropped his shoulders to relax but was taken by surprise when Sun-Il grasped a hand on his shoulder.

"That looked like it really hurt, is your ass alright?" He said with that usual smile on his face. God, how Jee-Han wanted to just punch him for smiling at a time like this.

"Don't ask" He smacked Sun-Il's hand away and rested his head on his arm while frowning.

Sun-Il bent down and placed his elbows on the desk and tilted his head.

"Why were you late? You of all people should know what happens to those who are late to his class"

Jee-Han snorted.

"I wasn't late on purpose... something unexpected just came up. Yea, that's it..." Even Jee-Han couldn't really explain what had happened to him. Truth be told, his heart was still pounding and he could feel that he was still a bit sweaty.

He recalled what happened earlier and after that red haired girl had disappeared, he had absolutely no idea how to get out of whatever kind of barrier thing they were in. His curiosity was answered when suddenly, a crack appeared in the middle of the sky and shattered into hundreds of beautiful fragments. The next thing he knew, everything was back to normal and the fat old man he saw jogging before was back.

Even though he was happy he was able to get out, more questions just kept piling onto the never ending list. Before he could even think about questions, he took off with lightning speed towards the school as he knew the fate that awaited those late to his teacher's home room.

"Did anything happen on your way to school?" Sun-Il asked out of the blue.

Jee-Han spared him a glance and noticed he wasn't smiling like he was before and adopted a more serious and hardened expression that had traces of concern behind it.

"Nah, it wasn't anything important. It's not even worth mentioning" Actually, it was _definitely_ worth mentioning but he couldn't just tell Sun-Il about it now when he himself didn't understand it.

Speaking of him, Jee-Han wondered if Sun-Il had any connections to the red haired girl and tuxedo guy from earlier. Could it be possible that there was some sort of secret organization of super humans?

"Yea right..." Jee-Han sighed as he shook his head, an act that confused Sun-Il while he still had his elbows on the table.

Suddenly, a loud ringing bell resonated throughout the halls that signalled students it was time for class to begin again.

"Look that's the bell, scurry on back to your seat" Jee-Han tried to shoo Sun-Il away. Sun-Il nodded and walked back towards his seat but not before stealing a quick glance at his friend who stared at the window. He was hiding something, Sun-Il knew it but he didn't want to force it out of him. He'd tell him when he was ready.

As the next teacher walked into the class room and began teaching his lessons, Jee-Han didn't even bother to pay attention as he tried to process all of the events that had transpired this morning.

From what he remembered, he was only able to survive that encounter because he could create an attack skill by doing some sort of special action and also because he was able to obtain critical information from that slime monster. His two newly created skills [ **Rip** ] and [ **Observe** ] had proved their worth and Jee-Han thought about how his gaming ability was able to make them become real skills.

" _If I'm able to create skills by doing certain actions, then I should be able to do other things that a normal RPG would have right? What would be the first thing I'd do if I was starting a new game..."_

Jee-Han put a book in front of his face for cover.

"Status Window" He made sure to whisper as quietly as he could.

A window screen appeared before him, but this time it was different than the others and had numerical numbers and more interesting information.

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title** : None **  
Level** : 6

 **HP:** 200/200 **  
** **MP:** 230/230

 **STR:** 15 **  
** **VIT:** 9 **  
** **DEX:** 11 **  
** **INT:** 8 **  
** **WIS:** 6 **  
** **LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 10 **  
** **Money:** £3000

Jee-Han sighed in relief. It was just as he theorized; his life had really become like a video game. If he could summon a status window, would an inventory also be available?

He whispered again.

"Inventory"

This time, a brand new screen appeared with several empty boxes and a silhouette sketch of his body that displayed his clothing as if they were armour. It really did look like a video game inventory window.

He glanced at his mechanical pencil lying on his desk and wanted to test something. He picked it up and slowly moved it towards one of the empty boxes in his inventory. It was as if he was storing his pencil through another dimension and it fit perfectly into the box that displayed the item with a small avatar.

" _Holy crap, this is amazing!"_ He couldn't actually believe that worked. I mean, he _could_ believe it but still, he couldn't believe it!

" _Next I should-_

 **Smack!**

"Ow!" His reached out to soothe his head as he looked up towards a _very_ annoyed English teacher that didn't appreciate a student playing with a pen during the middle of an important lesson.

"First you want to show up late to home bell and _now_ you want to ignore my lessons? I must say Jee-Han, you've got balls."

"T-Teacher this is..."

It was no good; he was doomed.

"Hands"

Jee-Han complied and held out his hands in anticipation of the oncoming pain he was about to face. He glanced at his friend again who was snickering to himself and Jee-Han cursed him before he squealed like a girl after being slapped on his wrist five times by the teacher's ruler.

 **«Physical Endurance's Level Goes Up By One»**

" _Will I have to go through this every time I want a new skill..."_ He thought as he rubbed his aching hands.

* * *

 **[3:30 PM, After school]**

Sprinting home after the bell had just rang, Jee-Han wasn't taking any chances this time and darted as fast as he possibly could. He wasn't too keen on being trapped in another one of those barriers again and so he needed to get to a safe location on the double.

It only took a few minutes before Jee-Han was panting heavily, gasping for air as he had almost made it home. He cursed his lack of stamina and made a mental note to put some points into VIT whenever he got the chance and walked the remainder of the way home.

He sighed in relief as he was able to avoid any weird barrier things again and opened his door, greeting his mother who was watching her soaps again and headed upstairs to his room. He threw his bag over his bed and unbuttoned his shirt to inspect something he had been curious about. Even though he fell from such a large distance this morning and should have had some sort of bruise on his back as a result, it was completely void of any injuries and Jee-Han nodded in satisfaction.

This confirmed it.

He put his shirt back on and fell onto his bed, processing all of the information he had gathered today from school and his encounter with those two freaks.

Since he couldn't be bothered to actually pay attention in class, he redirected all of his attention into testing more things about his abilities and was able to confirm a few things.

First, if he repeated an action a certain number of times, he could get a new skill based on that action. Second, his physical body had become similar to a game character and had a "HP and "MP" bar that represented his life and stamina. This was convenient since even if he took a severe beating like today, the pain would quickly subside if his HP bar was full again. Finally, every skill and item he creates or has is saved either between his inventory or skills window.

He opened the skills window during class and saw all of the current skills he either created or already had. He had 4 skills in total, three he had generated today and one that had been there before. He had clicked on it and read the description.

« **A Gamer's Body (Passive) Lvl Max** »

 **Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game**

He understood immediately that _this_ was the skill that changed his life, the skill that had made him "The Gamer" instead of just plain old Jee-Han. The simple question of "Where had it come from?" was flashing through his head but he knew he wouldn't get answers without any leads.

For now, he just wanted to rest and since tomorrow was a day off, he was planning on using the free time to prepare himself if he ever came across another situation like that. He didn't want to die, who would? So instead of hiding out for the rest of his life, he was going to make sure he would be fully prepared for any monsters that wanted to take a shot at him.

It's what a man would do, right?

"Though, I'm not much of a man..." His shoulders dropped and he let out a depressing sigh. His life wasn't supposed to be like this, this wasn't what he had imagined at all.

* * *

 **The Next Day [9:15 AM, Garage]**

Scuffling through an old and dusty box, Jee-Han found what he was looking for and grabbed the item with a smirk. A metal baseball bat no longer than thirty four inches was held comfortably in Jee-Han's hand as he used his favourite skill [ **Observe** ] to check it out.

« **An Aluminum Bat made by RealTek Manufacturing. A little lighter and a bit stronger than a wooden bat** »

Jee-Han frowned a bit. Even though his [ **Observe** ] skill was useful, some of the descriptions were unnecessary as they were quite obvious from the get go. I mean really, who wouldn't believe a metal bat was stronger than a wooden bat?

"It doesn't say anything about attack damage though... Hm, well let's give it a shot" He opened his inventory and tried to place the bat inside. The results were successful and he clenched his fist triumphantly.

"Good, now I'll always have a weapon on me for protection. What else would I need?" He contemplated before snapping his fingers and rushing to his bathroom. He opened his top cabinet and used [ **Observe** ] on his tooth paste and mouth wash.

Another one of his theories just confirmed itself. Just like in an RPG, usually health items would recover certain amounts of HP and MP depending on the quality.

All in all though, they were pretty useless items as the average restoration rate between them was around 5 HP but they did have _some_ uses such as removing inflammation and bleeding status effects.

" _I have over 100 HP... in a real battle, there's no way I could make use of these. I'll take them for now but I'll need a better healing item_ " He grabbed them and stored them within his inventory.

A thought just occurred to Jee-Han as he remembered in one of the RPG's he played awhile ago. Crafting was a skill that he used very often to make potions and other accessories; wouldn't that also be usable with my gamer ability? He wasn't a pharmacist so he didn't know how the process of making medicine and potions worked but surely he could simplify it with his powers. He would think about it later.

He decided it was time to do some physical preparation and went out the back door and decided to head to the open playground a few miles behind his house. Fortunately, not many kids came out to play around this time so he didn't have to worry about scaring any of them as he withdrew his bat.

Finding a suitable tree, Jee-Han took a stance and whacked it with all of his might, leaving a small indent on the tree's rough bark. In doing so, two skills had been created.

« **Ding!** »

 **A Skill has been created through a special action!**

 **A Skill to deliver a strong blow, [Power Strike] has been created!**

 **A Skill has been created through a special action!**

 **A skill to utilize Blunt weapons freely, [Blunt Weapon Mastery] has been created!**

To sum it up, because Jee-Han was not only using a newly acquired weapon but also striking with it, he was able to create not only an active skill but also a passive skill.

"Hell yes!" He cheered in excitement as he took a deep breath and held the bat in his hands with a wide smile. Because he already experimented on creating new skills, this wasn't that much of a surprise. Still though, he was understandably joyful.

"Since the power will depend on its level, I guess it's time for some grinding!"

With his goal made up, Jee-Han tightly grabbed the bat again and hit the tree but this time used [ **Power Strike** ] to active his new skill. The tree left a much bigger dent than before and Jee-Han kept at it while his [ **Blunt Weapon Mastery** ] and [ **Power Strike** ] skills were levelling up at a decent rate.

After a few dozen hits...

« **Power Strike's Level Goes Up By One!** »

"Oh I see, about 1 level for about 30 hits huh?" Jee-Han wiped away a few drops of sweat from his forehead. He tried to keep at it again but noticed that the bat wasn't glowing like it used too before.

"Huh? What's wrong? Is the skill broken or something?" He didn't understand why the skill wasn't working until he came up with an idea and opened his Status Window.

Thought so.

He looked at his MP bar and saw it had reached 0/100.

"My MP runs out that quickly? That means I've only got about 30 shots before I'm defenseless huh?" 30 hits weren't terribly bad but he would definitely need more if he was going to face off against stronger monsters than the slime.

"Wait, what's my MP recovery rate? In RPG's you can recover mana at a certain rate so I need to make sure I recover more than I spend" He clicked on the MP bar and saw that his recovery rate was only a measly 1 MP per every minute.

" _Only 1 per minute? That's really shitty; at that rate it'll take over an hour to get back to full MP"_ Jee-Han brought his hand to his chin and began thinking on alternate ways to keep his MP high at all times.

"If it's like this, the only way I can have full MP is to either increase the rate at which I recover mana or get some passive skills that will permanently increase it. Wow, I really am like a game character" He looked over his body and still couldn't believe it. Using the terms HP and MP to address himself felt weird no matter how anyone looked it.

Picking up his bat, he decided he might as well figure that out later and spent the rest of the morning grinding his [ **Power Strike** ] and [ **Blunt Weapon Mastery** ].

The day went by quickly and Jee-Han saw that the sun was setting and decided to take a break, leaning his body against a nearby rock. He had been at this all day and even though he could instantly recover his fatigue with 30 minutes of rest, his mind still needed a break from mental exhaustion.

Opening his skill window, he smiled contently when he saw that he had raised [ **Power Strike** ] to level 3 and [ **Blunt Weapon Mastery** ] to level 5. A decent rate if he said so himself. That wasn't all though, after increasing his mastery of blunt weapons to level 5 he obtained a passive skill that increased his attack damage of blunt weapons by 30 % and attack speed by 10%! Now that's pretty damn good!

With these passives added on top of each other his base damage would be more than twice of what it was before.

A cocky grin was plastered on Jee-Han's face as he was still stunned at how much more powerful he had become.

Satisfied with today's progress, he decided to call it a day and began walking back home after leaving the playground and heading down an empty street. The sun had already set and it was getting late, he needed to get home quickly.

Jee-Han shivered at the prospect of facing off against another one of those monsters at this time of night. Trusting his instincts, he started sprinting back home and kept a look out to make sure he wouldn't get ambushed. He didn't care if he looked weird while doing it, he valued his life above all else.

As he was running, he immediately noticed that none of the houses he passed by had any lights on. Weird, at this time of night surely there must have been a few families still awake having dinner or watching TV?

" _Wait... could it be...!"_ He stopped running and reached into his inventory, bringing out his bat and held it with more grip than necessary. He began to sweat profusely and his heart beat was rising again.

" _Shit, how did I end up in another one of these barrier things again!?"_ As he began cursing his own rotten luck, a howling screech startled him and he slowly turned his head around to find the source.

He saw a figure standing close to a street light and had most of its body shadowed out. It looked like the silhouette of older man but why was he just standing there?

Jee-Han swallowed his spit and took a few steps back just in case and just as he was about to run, the figure began to slowly limp forward and Jee-Han's eyes widened in shock at the revelation.

A Zombie.

" _Oh shit! Holy crap, its... it's an actual zombie! This isn't the Walking Dead so why the hell is it even here!?"_

Jee-Han's hands began to tremble as he stared into the face of the walking corpse that was joined by two other zombies from the corner street. His heart was working in overdrive and he decided to follow his instincts and run the hell out of there. He ran as fast as he possibly could until he stopped abruptly in front of another hoard of zombies.

" _Fuck!"_ Surrounded on both sides and running out of time as they approached, Jee-Han frantically looked for another possible escape route until he noticed a narrow alley way. He knew that if there was another zombie in there, he was finished. However, he was willing to take that gamble.

"Please god, don't abandon me now!" He made a dash for the alley way as one of the zombies narrowly missed grabbing him and he kept running until he met a dead end.

He swiftly turned around and saw the hoard coming after him in a linear line with the old man zombie at the head of the pack.

" _Shit! Well, at least this is better than trying to take them all on from both sides. Okay, just calm down Jee-Han. You've been practicing for this very moment, take a breather and try to think what to do first!"_

Thinking back, he remembered his encounter with the Black Slime and how crucial the skill [ **Observe** ] had been in pin pointing its weakness.

" _That's it!"_ he mentally yelled and stared at the first Zombie.

"Observe!"

 **Zombie**

 **Level: 8**

 **HP: 800 (800)** | **MP: 50**

 **A walking corpse, no matter how it died. It hates the living, attacking and eating its flesh. Although it's slow, its strength is twice as much as when it was alive.**

" _Okay! Its weaker than the Black Slime so I shouldn't have any problems if I just use Power Strike. Let's do it!"_

With his made up, Jee-Han waited for the zombie to get closer and just before it pounced...

"Power Strike!" He yelled with all his fury and smacked the zombie in head, decreasing its HP bar by more than half with a single skill.

« **You have obtained 650 EXP!** »

"I... I did it!" Jee-Han's celebration was short lives as the zombie directly behind the first one grabbed his shirt, staggering him as he stumbled to get his balance.

"Get the fuck off me!" Jee-Han roared and then did a horizontal swipe with his bat against the zombies head, splattering it against the concrete wall beside them. He jumped back and took a minute to catch his breath as he was feeling the adrenaline, similar to how he felt before. The zombies he had struck earlier had lost a little more than 400 HP and were staggering to come after him again.

"Alright, come at me you bastards!"

The zombies fell one by one as Jee-Han swung his bat, surprised at how much more efficient he was using it compared to during practice. He believed it must have been thanks to his [ **Blunt Weapon Mastery** ] skill that was the cause of it and offered a sincere thanks towards it.

"Power Strike!" With one last swing, Jee-Han defeated the last zombie that had come after him in the narrow alley way and dropped to his knees, feeling as if his strength had left his legs.

"Holy... shit. That was close..." He usually didn't believe in miracles but he sure as hell did today. Choosing to use his day off to prepare himself was the smartest decision he had ever made in his life.

"I can't relax yet, I have to check if there's any more of these bastards" He got up and climbed one of the walls boxing him in the alley way. As he pulled himself up, his eyes widened at the huge swarm of zombies that was filling the town on all sides.

"What the... are you serious!?" He couldn't believe his eyes, where the hell did they all come from and why were they all gathered in one location?

Then, his eyes looked upwards and caught a very bizarre sight. In the middle of the sky was a small red sphere that was just floating there.

" _What is that thing?_ " He stared at it for what he felt like hours until the sphere suddenly grew several times bigger and began to swallow the zombies into its endless void.

Jee-Han didn't understand a single clue on what was going on but if it meant getting these zombies away from him, he wasn't complaining.

Before he could celebrate however, a female zombie had climbed up onto the wall parallel to the one he was standing on and made a dash straight for him with its mouth wide open, showcasing its rotting teeth and contaminated bowls.

"Shit!" Jee-Han barely had enough time to react as he thrust his bat inside of the Zombies throat and they both fell backwards and were barely dangling from the thin wall. The zombie was chomping on his bat as Jee-Han had to resist the urge to throw up when he his nose caught wind of the putrid aroma. Mustering up all the strength he had left, he placed his right foot under the zombie's abdomen and flip kicked it over him.

It landed with a thud and before it could get up, Jee-Han quickly rose to his feet and raised his bat over his head and activated [ **Power Strike** ], smashing its head in. The zombie disappeared in a black smoke and Jee-Han panted heavily and wiped some sweat from his face.

« **You level has increased by one** »

Jee-Han didn't give a single fuck about that notification and kept on alert at the zombie still trying to escape the red sphere's vortex but ultimately failed and were killed instantly.

Once all of the zombies had been cleared up, the sphere shrunk back in size and then floated towards a man wearing a tuxedo that was standing on the roof of a house.

" _Hey... isn't that the guy..."_ Jee-Han immediately recognized him as the pedo- I mean man who had engaged the red haired girl the other day.

The red sphere was caught by his hands and crushed in an instant. Sung-Gon nodded his head in satisfaction before raising his hand as if he were placing it against an invisible wall and suddenly, a crack formed in front of his palm.

 **Shatter!**

Jee-Han flinched as he fell to the floor on the wall and looked towards his side, noticing that the barrier thing that he was stuck in before was gone and the lights that weren't in the houses were now there.

"It looks like... I'm back. Thank god." He sighed in relief but quickly looked towards where Sung-Gon had been and noticed he was gone again.

He didn't know what was going on but theorized that the dimension changes and the freaky monsters showing up must have been Sung-Gon's doing.

Jee-Han had been debating whether or not to ask his close friend Sun-Il about all this crazy stuff that was going on. After today's events, he realized he didn't have a choice and if he wanted answers he might as well ask someone who seemed like his best lead.

"The Black Summoner..." he said only above a whisper, wondering what exactly he was planning.

* * *

 **A/N: Phew, that was quite a long chapter compared to the others. I adapted about 3 ½ chapters this time and we finally can get into the juicy stuff regarding the Zombie Legion arc.**

 **Anyone who's read the original Manhwa should notice a few changes here and there but ultimately, it follows the same route.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

* * *

 **Current Stats:**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** None **  
** **Level:** 7

 **HP:** 250/250 **  
** **MP:** 280/280 **  
** **STR:** 15 **  
** **VIT:** 9 **  
** **DEX:** 11 **  
** **INT:** 8 **  
** **WIS:** 6 **  
** **LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 15 **  
** **Money:** ₩3000

* * *

 **《Skills》**

 **Offensive:**  
Rip (Active) | Lvl: 2  
Power Strike (Active) | Lvl: 3 **«NEW** **»**

 **Support:**  
Observe (Active) | Lvl: 2

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 2 **«NEW** **»**  
Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5 **«NEW** **»**


	4. (Arc 1) Chapter 4

**A/N: Making some good progress here, Chapter 4 is out and we'll finally get to start seeing Jee-Han's life changing choices on whether he'll join the Abyss or not.**

 **Just going to answer a few things from the reviews.**

 **Akuma Kuro: Yes, you're right. Without the passive, Jee-Han will need to worry more about his stats.**

 **2sf: I already responded to you in a PM, thanks for the advice.**

 **NaruHarem4Ever: Thanks! I'll be sure no too disappoint you.  
**

 **Guest: Well, this is only the 4th chapter. This is a retelling of the canon story that will _eventually_** **branch off into its own story so you have to be patient. If you were expecting it too be different from the get go then your reading the wrong story. It will follow the canon story line but with noticeable differences until it will completely be its own thing. Please be patient for it.**

 **Let's get started, shall we?**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 4**

[ **8:20 AM, Yeogang High School]**

Jee-Han walked into the classroom, not even bothering to hide the apparent fatigue on his face as he slumped to his desk. A few students caught his odd behavior but chose to ignore it since it wasn't any of their business.

Sitting down, Jee-Han dropped his head towards the desk and let his chin support his body as he grumbled. His eyes had clear shadows under them, indicating that he hadn't gotten any sleep last night. How could he? With the possibility of getting trapped into another one of those dimensions again, he wasn't going to risk it. The mere thought of being transported while asleep was enough to keep him up all night, playing games.

Luckily, he was able to fool his mother into thinking he was asleep by jumping into bed whenever she came to check on him. He had his reflexes to thank for that.

As Jee-Han turned his head to look out the window he noticed that his level had increased from six to seven and he forced a smile. Usually, he would have been extremely happen to have increased his level but today? He simply didn't care. He was more worried about his life than leveling up.

As he was contemplating that, he thought about his previous encounters with Sung-Gon and Shi-Yun. Those dimension barriers were no doubt being created by them and he was being drawn into it. Why did they have to drag him into their fight? He was just a normal kid; he didn't want any part of this crap!

Jee-Han sighed and looked to his right, noticing that Sun-Il had just arrived and was waving towards him with his usual smile. Jee-Han lazily met his wave with his own and decided that today was the day he was going to tell him. He may or may not have the information he needed but there was no harm in trying.

"Morning, it's rare to see you here early. What's up?" Sun-Il expressed his usual friendly demeanor and walked beside Jee-Han's desk.

Jee-Han took another look at Sun-Il and noticed the stats above his head.

 **«** **Chunbumoon's Heir** **»**

 **Lvl 28 Shun Sun-Il**

What in the hell?

" _Did this bastard get stronger over the weekend?_ " Jee-Han felt annoyed at seeing his friend's progress and wondered what type of training he endured but decided to leave that for another time.

"No particular reason, just had something to do. Before that, let's go eat. My treat."

Sun-Il looked confused for a second before putting on a mischievous smile.

"Oh? Since when do _you_ treat _me?_ Isn't it usually the other way around? Hmm...Jee-Han is hiding something..."

Jee-Han's eyebrows twitched. He was as sharp as ever, the bastard.

"Oh just shut up and follow me, it's important"

"Mkay" Sun-Il continued to smile as he followed Jee-Han to the school's cafeteria.

After buying the smiling bastard a red bun, they decided to catch some fresh air before class began and sat down on some benches near the entrance. Jee-Han looked around and saw no one was in sight; this was his chance.

"So, what's on your mind Jee-Han? Is it about your grades? Your mom giving you trouble again? Or perhaps girl problems?" Jee-Han heard Sun-Il snicker when he said the last one and had to resist the urge to punch him.

"I... I want to know something."

"Well that's pretty obvious considering you bought me food and made me follow you out here. So fess up"

Jee-Han looked like he was visibly struggling to come clean but sighed and decided to just do it.

"If you get trapped into a dimension with monsters trying to kill you, how do you get out of it?"

"Oh, is that all? That's easy, to get out all you have to do is use your own energy and..."

Hold up.

Sun-Il instantly stopped smiling and he opened his narrowed eyes with clear hostile intent. He stood up and grabbed Jee-Han's neck, startling the poor boy who looked utterly confused as to what was going on. He took a glance at his best friend who was glaring at him and it felt as if he eyes would penetrate his body.

"Talk. What did you do to my friend?"

He squeezed harder and there was none of the usual friendliness within his voice as he spoke those words with such aggression. Jee-Han was beginning to feel his mind go blank as he tried to speak but with Sun-Il's hand on his throat, all he could manage were shaken coughs. He began to sweat. face turning pale while his vision became blurred, an indication that he was losing consciousness.

" _A-Amazing... this guy... had this much strength...? I need... to do... something!"_ He desperately began wracking his brain on how to prove to Sun-Il that he was the real Jee-Han. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head with the perfect idea.

He cupped his hands together and made a hand sign that looked as if he trying to devour something between his palms and placed them against Sun-Il's abdomen, confusing the man who loosened up his grip.

"Ha...Hadoken..."

There was a moment of silence that filled the air between the two and just as Jee-Han thought he'd suffocate, his lungs were back to normal and he started chocking to regain his breath.

Sun-Il sighed as his hand came onto his hip.

"Wow... really? Street Fighter? You're so last week Jee-Han, everyone knows Tekken is the shit now"

Jee-Han tried to snarl but he was still trying to breathe and just cursed the bastard in his mind who sat down beside him again.

"You almost crushed my throat! Don't you think an apology would be appropriate right now!?

Sun-Il shrugged his shoulders.

"I thought you were an impostor. You'd probably do the same thing if it were me, right?"

Jee-Han looked at him as if he was retarded. Even though he _was_ glad his friend cared for him to go this far, he was crazy if he believed he would have done the same. He wasn't a monster, and his aching neck was proof of that.

" _Shit, it still hurts like hell_..." He rubbed his poor neck and sighed.

"But anyway, why'd you ask me something like that? You shouldn't even know what an Illusion Barrier is"

" _Illusion Barrier... ah, so that's what its called. I should remember that_..." He made a mental note to save that term.

"Truthfully, I didn't know what that was up until a few days ago when I found myself trapped inside one thanks to a guy called Sung-Gon"

Sun-Il's eyes' twitched at the sound of the name and he had a worried expression on his face.

"I also... know that you've been hiding your heritage from me. Isn't that right, Chunbumoon's heir?"

Jee-Han looked at Sun-Il who had his eyes open as if he was hit by lightning and was at a loss for words. This was one of the few times that Jee-Han had seen him open his usually closed eyes so it must have been a secret he was planning on never telling him.

Just as Jee-Han was about to ask him to say something, Sun-Il got up and grabbed Jee-Han's arm and started walking away from the school.

"Hey! W-What are you doing?" Jee-Han's pleas went unanswered as they were led around the school towards an abandoned district and went behind a run down house that looked like it had been vandalized. Sun-Il let go of his arm and checked around to see if anybody was in the vicinity and nodded. He found a seat by some stairs and crossed his arms.

"How much do you know?" He asked.

Jee-Han took a minute to get comfortable and leaned against one of the walls, sighing as he was going to have to come clean about everything he had experienced so far. Today was going to be a long day.

 **[Fifteen Minutes Later]**

After Jee-Han had finished explaining, Sun-Il brought a hand to his chin.

"So, you've got this gamer ability thing that allows you to see levels and create skills? Is that about right?"

Jee-Han nodded.

"Pretty much, here take a look for yourself"

He opened his inventory and materialized his bat, tossing it to Sun-Il who held it while scanning it over.

"So you can store anything in your game inventory?" He was impressed. It seemed like quite the useful ability to have and tossed it back to Jee-Han who stored it.

"Yea, no matter how big it is, it fits right into the inventory space. I'd usually be ecstatic about something like this but I've run into some pretty close calls thanks to those stupid illusion barriers."

Sun-Il sighed.

"To think, _you_ of all people becoming a natural ability user. The world is such an unfair place..."

Jee-Han cocked his head to the side at the new term.

"What's a natural ability user?" He asked the obvious.

"This'll take awhile to explain, you sure you've got the time?" Thankfully, they didn't have their usual teacher for homeroom so they wouldn't get beatings if they were late. Still didn't mean they should skip class though but from looking at Jee-Han nodding his head with a serious face, Sun-Il knew he didn't give a crap about studies at a time like this.

"Alright, where to begin..."

During Sun-Il's explanation, Jee-Han learned quite a bunch of new things regarding matters concerning the super natural. Apparently, their world operated on using something known as the "Gaia Theory" that basically said that Earth has a mind and will of its own. Some even referred to Gaia as a "God", capable of granting special powers to those with strong and pure desires. Natural ability users such as Jee-Han were given their powers by Gaia herself, the power being based on what the person holds most dear to them.

"Wait doesn't that mean..." Jee-Han had come to a conclusion.

Sun-Il nodded.

"That's right, you loved games so much that Gaia decided to give you the "Gamer" ability. Didn't I tell you before to quit taking games so seriously?"

Jee-Han's shoulders slumped as he felt a bit pathetic for treasuring games so much that it actually became a reality. I mean, on one hand it was awesome since he got a chance to live a life he always wanted but on the other hand, if it was going to put him in danger like before then it wasn't something worth having.

"But that still doesn't explain how I keep ending up in Illusion Barriers..."

"Perhaps there's a hidden ability of your Gamer powers that is forcing you to enter them?" Sun-Il said as he rubbed his chin.

"That makes sense... wait, so Illusion Barriers were created by Gaia? She makes them?"

"Correct. It's a bit complicated but basically, Gaia doesn't want people to use their powers to affect society so she created a space for ability users to do battle without interfering with the real world".

Sun-Il continued to explain that if somebody were to use their powers to interfere with the world in an unnatural way; such as winning the lottery with odds stacked heavily against them, Gaia would then make it her top priority to eliminate them. Jee-Han swallowed his spit when he heard this and made sure not to piss off Gaia.

"But those Illusion Barriers; why do they look so much like the real world?" Jee-Han asked.

"Because Gaia is basing their design and concept _off_ the real world, duh. They're very useful because no matter how much damage a person does over there, it doesn't affect the real world in the slightest bit."

"That's... amazing..." Jee-Han was in awe. He didn't know such a world existed and frankly, he was getting goose bumps just imaging the different possibilities out there. However, he still wasn't planning on actively becoming a part of their world, it was just too damn scary.

"Well, since I'm here I might as well show you how to make one of your own and also how to escape it. These two skills are crucial for survival if you plan on becoming a part of the Abyss"

"Yea, screw that. I have no plans on joining whatever you guys call it. I'll definitely take that escape skill though, so please teach it to me!" He clasped his hands in a prayer and bowed towards him.

"Sure, that's what I was planning to do".

Sun-Il smirked before standing up and raising his left hand. A few seconds passed and Jee-Han instantly felt that the world had changed and the noises of the passing cars outside had disappeared. No doubt about it, they were inside an Illusion Barrier.

"How'd you do that?"

"It's pretty simple actually, just gather energy at the center of your palms and try to coat the world with it. Escaping one is the same process, except instead of coating try shattering. Give it a try".

Jee-Han nodded and stepped forward, thrusting his hand into the air with an exaggerated motion. Sun-Il sighed at watching his friend; he was still as immature as ever.

"Uhm... how do I use that energy thing?" Jee-Han admitted with an embarrassed grin.

Sun-Il scratched the back of his head and sighed. Right, he had forgotten that up until now his friend was a complete noob when it came to anything involving ki manipulation.

"Look, just try focusing all of your energy into your hands and clear your mind of everything else. Make it be the only thing that your mind is focused on".

Jee-Han weakly nodded and tried again.

" _Coat the world... coat the world... coat the world! Coat the... screw it, Illusion Barrier get the hell out here right now!_ " He mentally shouted and suddenly...

 **DING!**

 **«** **A Skill has been created through a special action!** **»**

 **The skill to directly use mana, [Energy Bolt], has been created.**

"Huh?!" He let out an exasperated gasp.

"What the heck are you doing? Concentrate!" Sun-Il shouted while Jee-Han apologized and ignored the new skill he wasn't even trying to make. He would test it out later.

Jee-Han tried once again and remembered that Sun-Il had already created an Illusion Barrier so he needed to shatter the one he was in now, not create a new one.

" _Alright... shatter.. shatter... shatter!"_ After a few seconds, Jee-Han's hands began to glow and he could feel the air around him shaking. Then, cracks began to appear above him and the Illusion Barrier was broken.

 **«** **DING!** **»**

 **«** **A skill has been created through a special action!** **»**

 **A skill to get out of the instant dungeon Illusion Barrier, [ID Escape], has been created.**

" _Yes! Yes! Oh thank you god yes! Now I won't have to worry about being trapped in those barriers!_ " As he was celebrating, Sun-Il didn't give him a chance to gloat anymore as he ordered him to now try and make one and Jee-Han focused once again to coat the world in his energy. It seemed to work as the noises that he had begun hearing again disappeared once more.

 **DING!**

 **«** **A skill has been created through a special action!** **»**

 **A skill to make Illusion Barriers, [ID Create], has been created.**

 **Stronger instant dungeons may be created based on the user's level.**

" _Woah... so I can create different types of Illusion Barriers now? That should really come in handy!"_ Jee-Han clenched his fist in glory as he learned the two vital skills he needed.

"Hey, thanks man you're a life saver!" Jee-Han smiled happily.

Sun-Il grinned and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"You're welcome, I haven't seen you look that happy ever since you got that new game you've had your eye on." He teased.

"As if I could think about games at a time like this, I almost died!" Jee-Han complained and recalled the dreadful experience. At least now he didn't have to worry about going through it again.

Sun-Il let go of his shoulder and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"I can understand why you're all shaken up, being involved in a battle against ability users is enough to traumatize anyone. Just be careful from now, alright? I can't promise you that you won't get involved in more battles like that even if you know how to avoid Illusion Barriers."

"What do you mean by that?" Jee-Han inquired.

Sun-Il patted his shoulder again before walking off.

"Nothing, oh and don't worry about the Black Summoner; he will be dealt with" As he said that, Sun-Il raised his right fist and slammed it against a concrete pillar nearby, leaving a huge hole as the pavement crumbled away.

Jee-Han's jaw dropped immediately as he watched the scene.

"You remember how I told you about Natural Ability users? Well if there are natural ones, surely there must be acquired ones right? I'm one of them; even though I had a talent for detecting Ki since birth, I still had to train my ass off to get to where I am now"

"B-But..." Jee-Han was having a hard time foaming words.

"My level should be higher than what it was last week since I've been doing special training in our clan's Illusion Barriers."

"Y-Yea... you were level 25 not too long ago and now you're 28..."

Sun-Il looked pleased by the number and gave Jee-Han a thumbs up. Jee-Han wanted to stick that thumb up his ass as he was watching his friend become some sort of super hero.

Jee-Han on the other hand still couldn't believe it. What kind of monstrous training would allow a person to shatter concrete with their bare hands?

Sun-Il threw his hand up and destroyed the current Illusion Barrier and began walking back towards the school. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at Jee-Han.

"Don't go out tonight; we'll take care of the Black Summoner. Got it?"

With that, Sun-Il was gone and Jee-Han was left with not only a astonished expression, but with even more questions than he originally started with.

* * *

 **[9:20 PM, Chunbumoon Dojo]**

Fixing his tie in front of a mirror, Sun-Il checked himself all around before nodding in satisfaction at his current appearance. Even though he wasn't going to some fancy dinner party or meeting, he still always wanted to look proper when leaving the house.

He was currently in his bed room and now that he thought about it, there was way too much free space. Being the Chunbumoon clan's heir may have meant giving him a higher authority, but surely he didn't need all of this space? He wasn't even able to fill up half of the total room with his stuff before he ran out of items to use as decorations.

"Jeez, my old room was just fine. Grandpa was too persistent in giving me this castle of a room..."

He rubbed the back of his head before turning to a photograph of himself and a younger boy sleeping on top of each other. A warm smile graced his lips as he reminisced the older days with his best friend and how much time they had spent together. Though he was annoyed that his cousin Sae-Young had taken that picture when they were off guard, now that he was looking at it; he was thankful.

His smile then faded into a frustrated frown as he clenched his fists and pounded his bedroom wall, making sure too hold back and not destroy the surface.

His friend had become a natural ability user, the geeky friend he knew since childhood. Why? How did he get himself wrapped up into this mess? The kind of world he got himself into was a dangerous one, where death was as natural as breathing.

" _Damn it_ _..._ "

He cursed Gaia with every fiber of his being. He cursed her for dragging his best friend into this mess. Even though it was too late to change anything, he still couldn't accept it as quickly as Jee-Han had. Honestly, the moment he heard that Jee-Han had become a natural ability user; he was conflicted. Though he'd gotten over it, he had always wanted to become a natural ability user and was much more in tune with the super natural than Jee-Han was. All of the blood, sweat, and tears he had poured into becoming as strong as he was now felt alot less remarkable when compared to how Jee-Han had been gifted with such an amazing power. He felt a bit jealous.

On the other hand, he was happy. He knew how much games meant to his friend and was glad that he could live a life that he had always wanted. Scary or not, there's no way Sun-Il was going to believe Jee-Han wasn't enjoying tampering with his new ability. He could see it on his stupid mug, the geek.

As he drew his arm back, Sun-Il felt like smacking himself in the face for harboring such thoughts in the middle of preparations. He was taught better than that and calmed down by breathing in and out.

Once he was ready, he opened his door and saw two familiar faces leaning against the opposite side. On the right was his first sworn brother, Phantom Wind who had quite a muscular physique and strapped to his back was a huge broadsword. To his right was his second brother, Phantom Rain who was looking as impassive as ever as he adjusted his white glasses.

The two of them were his sworn brothers that he befriended shortly after becoming the Chunbumoon's heir and he was impressed by their fighting abilities. There was no denying their usefulness in battle.

"You ready to go, brother?" the rough but commanding voice of Phantom Wind asked.

Sun-Il nodded as he turned to Phantom Rain.

"You know, even with the three of us our chances at succeeding against him are quite slim. Even the Yunhunmoon..."

Sun-Il sighed as he rubbed his head in frustration. "It can't be helped. You know there's been a power struggle within the family for years and now that Sung-Gong has begun making Illusion Barriers in our territory, gramps had no choice but to send us in order to appease the lesser branch families"

Phantom Wind grunted as his muscular body flexed instinctively. "I can't stand those old fools and how they keep trying to blame the Sun and Poong family! If it were me...!"

He calmed down when the gentle hand of Phantom Rain was placed on his shoulder. "Easy brother, no need to blow a fuse. We understand how you feel but there's nothing you or any of us can do. We can only follow orders and carry out the orders we were given"

" _As straight laced and optimistic as ever..._ " Sun-Il noted of his much calmer brother while Phantom Wind merely huffed in annoyance and began heading out.

Even if their chances were slim, Sun-Il wasn't about to run away from a direct order by the elders. The Chunbumoon, Yunhunmoon, and Existence Eaters all made a deal and Sung-Gon violated it. Though Sung-Gon wasn't a part of any of their clans, that didn't give him the right to excuse the laws they built upon the Seoul region.

Besides, if what he heard from Jee-Han was true then it was Sung-Gon's fault that Jee-Han was exposed to the dangers of the Abyss. If that was the case, then Sun-Il had even more reason to fight the bastard; **nobody** endangered his best friend and got away with it.

Leaving the dojo, the three of them jumped high into the air and made their way towards his usual spot, fully prepared to settle the score at any cost.

Today was the night that Sung-Gon, the Black Summoner would face judgment.

* * *

"That should be enough for today..." Sung-Gon affirmed as he held a red sphere in his right hand. The essence of the orb evaporated into his body and he surveyed the district he was standing in. There didn't seem to be anyone in his Illusion Barrier this time; a good thing too since the zombies in this one were noticeably more ferocious and aggressive.

He faintly remembered witnessing the confused high school student that had stumbled into his barrier. It required intensive training and concentration to forcefully enter another's illusion barrier and that kid looked too ordinary to have the skill required to do so. It was definitely odd that he could enter his barrier not once but _twice!_

Sung-Gon was sure that he saw that student running around smashing zombies yesterday evening when he was collecting spirits. Was he doing it on purpose? From his first encounter, the boy was clearly just a civilian since he was terrified of a mere black slime. However, what Sung-Gon wasn't expecting was the boy to be able to defeat it on his own. Perhaps he was hiding his strength? A thought to consider but it was not of any real significance so Sung-Gon dismissed it from his mind. He'd have his answers soon anyway.

"Well, at least he didn't get caught up in it this time. I don't like using hostages but it seemed like the only way to keep that girl from interfering." As he turned around, ready to head back home he immediately sensed a presence and jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding a well aimed dagger that was now embedded on the roof he was standing on.

"As expected of the Black Summoner; you're reflexes are on point" A seclusive voice spoke from one of the shadows of the balcony.

"Don't bother trying to launch a pincer attack, I'm already aware of the other two hiding nearby" He adjusted his glass before a smirk was present on his face.

Two swift after images breezed by Sung-Gon and landed in front of him while the one hiding in the shadows stepped forward, revealing the trio of Chunbumoon.

"It must be quite the special occasion for three of Chunbumoon's top ranked members to confront me. This isn't a part of your clan's territory so why don't you explain why you're here?"

In the center of the trio, Sun-Il glared ferociously at Sung-Gon and looked ready to go at him at any second. Before he could open his mouth however, Phantom Rain had stepped forward already with a hand behind his back, itching to unsheathe his blade.

"You've got some nerve acting all calm when you've broken the treaty, Black Summoner."

Sung-Gon merely shrugged.

"Isn't this how I act all the time?"

A vein appeared on Phantom Rain's forehead as he grid his teeth in dissatisfaction. If there was one thing Phantom Rain hated more than pretty boys and girls who wore leggings under their skirts, it was cocky punks who acted all high and mighty.

"You bastard, I'll kill-

"Brother..."

Sun-Il's calm but audacious voice was able to stop Phantom Rain immediately as a cold sweat fell down his neck. He turned towards his brother who showcased a serious expression that didn't match the usually cheerful mug he always had on. Anyone could tell that he was _not_ in the mood to be questioned.

Phantom Rain released the grip on his sheath and clicked his tongue in annoyance, backing down as he obeyed his older brother.

Sun-Il sighed and then looked Sung-Gon right in the eye. Or in this case, shades.

"This territory may not belong to us but it is under the jurisdiction of the alliance we built with the Yunhunmoon and Existence Eaters. You've never had a problem obeying this before, so why now?"

Sung-Gon turned to face the other way at Sun-Il's direct question and chuckled.

"I have permission from the Existence Eaters, so what's the issue?"

"You need permission from _all_ of the clans in Seoul before you do something like this. Or have you forgotten that?" Truthfully, Sun-Il was little surprised that the Existence Eaters had given Sung-Gon permission and held his suspicions.

Sung-Gon didn't say anything until he surprised Sun-Il and his brothers by laughing abruptly. It was so uncharacteristic of him that they didn't really know what to say. As he stopped laughing, he adjusted his glasses and smiled.

"Tell me something. What if you had a goal, a dream if you will that you would sacrifice anything to accomplish? What would you do?"

Sun-Il's eye brows twitched at the unexpected question. What was he talking about?

"What do you mean?"

"If there was something important to you that you wanted to protect at all costs, would you sacrifice anything to ensure its safety?"

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!" Phantom Rain roared, sick of listening to the man preach.

Sun-Il threw his hand onto his brother's chest to keep him from moving.

"Look, we didn't come here for philosophies and pointless bickering. We've come to ask you to cease creating Illusion Barriers in this area. These are direct orders from the elders themselves."

"Hoh... is that the only reason you're confronting me?"

Sun-Il frowned a bit before adopting a fighting stance and had a confident smile on his face.

"You're right. Truth be told, I'm not one for following direct orders if it means getting myself involved in a battle I can't win. However, your Illusion Barriers almost cost my precious friend his life. Even if they didn't order me too, I would have hunted you down."

Phantom Rain and Phantom Wind nodded their heads and sprang into action, cornering Sung-Gon on all fronts as they readied their weapons and adopted similar fighting stances.

Sung-Gon turned around again and sighed. Clearly, these people would never understand his ambitions. It was a shame; he had hoped to convince them. He withdrew an item from his pocket and crushed it in his palms, surprising and confusing the spectators.

Suddenly, the air around them was filled with a cold feeling of despair and darkness as Sung-Gon was covered in an aura of black ooze.

"What the hell is that!?" Phantom Wind screamed.

"Don't lower your guard! He's planning something so stick to the formation!" Sun-Il's orders were heard as his brothers tried to stay focused. However...

Sun-Il blinked and in that very short and brief moment, the bodies of his two comrades were being held in the air by Sun-Gon who was squeezing their throats. They looked close to dying as their bodies went pale and the sound of their lungs being crushed echoed in Sun-Il's ears.

"Let go of them!" Sun-Il rushed in desperately and drew his arm filled with ki back before thrusting it forward, aiming for his torso. His blow was however, stopped dead cold by Sung-Gon's black aura and he then found himself being held up by a black shadow that took the form of a human arm.

"I won't be stopped by the likes of you. It was unfortunate that you were called in to try and stop me and I'll make sure to pay those elders a visit to speak with them. However, I'm afraid I'll have to make an example out of you guys, just like what I did with the Yunhunmoon..."

" _Shit!"_ Sun-Il's thoughts were filled with regrets before the agonizing screams of him and his brothers filled the Illusion Barrier.

Jee-Han woke up from his bed and looked out the window before frowning. He didn't know why but he felt as if something really bad had happened, a very ominous feeling washing over him.

"Sun-Il said he would take care of Sung-Gon... But his level was weaker than his..." He couldn't deny the facts.

"Don't do anything reckless man..."

Jee-Han would later find out that his wishful thinking last night would be far from the reality.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Another lengthy chapter and an adaption that consists of about two chapters. Alot of exposition and explanations that we went through and I always found that we should have seen more to Sun-Il's side of things and how differently he is from Jee-Han. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** None **  
** **Level:** 7

 **HP:** 250/250 **  
** **MP:** 280/280 **  
** **STR:** 15 **  
** **VIT:** 9 **  
** **DEX:** 11 **  
** **INT:** 8 **  
** **WIS:** 6 **  
** **LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 15 **  
** **Money:** ₩3000

* * *

 **《Skills》  
**

 **Offensive:  
** Energy Bolt (Active) | Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**  
Rip (Active) | Lvl: 2  
Power Strike (Active) | Lvl: 3

 **Support:**  
Observe (Active) | Lvl: 2

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 2  
Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5

 **Miscellaneous:  
** ID Create (Active) | Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**  
ID Escape (Active) | Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**


	5. (Arc 1) Chapter 5

**A/N: TBD here just dropping in with another chapter, not much to say about this one except this is a "special" chapter because Jee-Han's decision to get involved in the Abyss will be planted here.**

 **We've been sticking to the canon so far but do not fret, the divergence will be upon us shortly.**

 **NinjaFang1331: Thanks!**

 **LordXeenTheGreat: Your words are appreciated.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manhwa written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 5**

 **[3:30 PM, After School]**

Jee-Han ran.

As soon as the last bell had rung, he had already taken off and ignored the complaints he was getting from his teachers. Not like he cared; visiting Sun-Il took priority over that.

The first being, what the hell happened to him? Sun-Il had never been absent for school unless it had to do with his family's dojo. Otherwise, he was a very punctual and role model student. Today however, his teacher had informed him that Sun-Il had caught the flu and would be away from school for awhile.

Bull shit.

Aside from the fact that Sun-Il _never_ got sick, there was no way Jee-Han would believe that someone of Sun-Il's remarkable ability could catch a flu that serious. Jee-Han refused to believe it.

So he made up his mind to go and visit Sun-Il after school to find out what really went down but from what he said about Sung-Gong, Jee-Han already had an idea.

"That idiot..." He bit his lip so hard that it felt as if it was going to be chewed right off.

He faintly remembered both of their levels as he was running, recalling that Sung-Gon's level was almost twice that of Sun-Il's.

As he passed the next and final corner, he saw the Chunbumoon's dojo in sight but stopped all of a sudden.

Shit. He had forgotten about cram school. His mother considered it "a way to get Jee-Han out of the house and his grades up" but Jee-Han considered a big ol waste of not only time but money. However, she _was_ paying for it so it wasn't like he could skip it.

He whipped out his cell phone and called her, making sure to hold the phone away from his ear at the inevitable shouting that was too come.

"Jee-Han? What's wrong?"

"Mom, I need to skip cram school today..."

There was a brief moment of silence before an angry sea of nagging followed.

"Are you drunk!? There's no way I'm letting you skip something that I'm paying for! Why would you even want to-

"Mom, Sun-Il's got the flu and didn't come to school today."

"Wait... what? Sun-Il got sick?"

"Y-Yea, I want to go visit him and if I have enough time, I'll go to cram school after".

Jee-Han was worried that his mom would start yelling even louder but what she did next took him for quite a surprise.

"Alright, go ahead. If it's Sun-Il, it can't be helped. But you better make damn sure you don't miss cram school, got it?"

Jee-Han was a bit overwhelmed before he accepted the terms and just as he was about to go ahead with his visit, a screen popped up.

 **«** **DING**! **»**

 **A Quest has been created!**

 **Quest Alert: Paying Sun-Il A Visit and Making it to Cram School!**

 **Pay a visit to Sun-Il and then hurry to cram school, you don't want to upset mom!**

 **Time limit: 2 hours.**

 **Completion award: Exp 700 + Increased closeness with Sun-Il and mother.**

 **Completion failure: Mother's nagging + Decreased trust from mother.**

 **Yes or No?**

An annoyed grunt came from Jee-Han before he sighed and clicked "Yes" as there was no harm in trying to complete it. He then walked the rest of the way to the Chunbumoon dojo and knocked on the giant front gate. He had been here many times and yet, he still couldn't get used to their intimidating entrance.

He reminisced all of the times he had been here when he was younger, sneaking around with Sun-Il to play games. Their clan wasn't big on using electronics and had only bought a computer recently, though it was safe guarded in Sun-Il's grandfather's room and out of reach from Jee-Han.

He heard a voice coming from the door buzzer.

"Who is it?"

Jee-Han recognized the pitch of one of his good friends and sighed in relief. If it had been anyone else, they probably wouldn't have let him in.

"Ah, you're Sae-Young right? It's me, Jee-Han. I'm here to visit Sun-Il"

"Jee-Han? Long time no see! Sorry, Sun-Il is too sick right now so you'll have to come back la-

"Don't lie to me! I know that he got done in by Sung-Gong! Sun-Il already told me everything so please let me in!"

He knew it may have been a bit rude to shout all of a sudden but he didn't have a choice, Sae-Young was the type of girl that needed to clearly understand your intentions otherwise she'd just blow you off.

The waiting seemed to go on for an eternity before the door began to open. Jee-Han walked inside and saw several students in white gi's practicing out on the open field next to the main house.

Jee-Han stepped forward, memorized by their dedication before finding the person who let him in standing by the stairs to the main house smiling at him.

This was Sun-Il's cousin, Poong Sae-Young. She was a few years older than them and was quite famous in their city for being an Olympic Medalist in Woman's Taekwondo. Like Sun-Il, she was the heir to one of the branch styles of the Chunbumoon which made her one of _the_ most important people in the clan.

To Jee-Han, she was more like the big sister he had always wanted. Scratch that, more like stuck with. She took care of him when he was younger and played with him from time to time. And by played with him, he meant try to kill him several times with a good ol fashioned game of "Run or Die".

"Hey Sae-Young, how long has it been?"

Sae-Young had a smile on her face that Jee-Han noticed was different from her usual smile. It seemed forced.

"About two months I think?"

Jee-Han nodded before adopting a more serious expression and tone.

"So, where's Sun-Il?"

It must have been Jee-Han's imagination but he could have sworn she sent him a icy glare before putting wearing another smile and turning around to lead him in.

"Follow me"

He stepped forward to follow her inside before noticing the rather extravagant view of her smooth and toned thighs, blushing a bit as he cursed her for still wearing revealing clothing. It was fine when he was a kid but he was a healthy young boy now. He had desires!

As he shook his head to remove the lewd thoughts popping up, he received a notification.

 **You have entered an instant dungeon.**

 **You have entered Chunbumoon's Wind Rain Cloud Triad Zone.**

 **Not having the Wind God technique decreases your status by 10 %**

 **Not having the Cloud God techniques decreases your status by 10 %**

 **Not having the Rain God technique decreases your status by 10 %.**

" _What's all this!?"_ He shrieked, noting several debuffs that were plaguing his body. He didn't understand how he had managed to get himself into another Illusion Barrier but theorized that it must have been some sort of protection ability that punished those who didn't receive the clan's techniques. He made a mental note to ask either Sae-Young or Sun-Il about that before noticing that the former had disappeared and he was standing in a dark room with several pillars lined up in front of him.

He looked around to find her but she was nowhere in sight and he started feeling nervous as he continued forward.

Suddenly, the sound of cloud's rumbling startled him as he looked up and sure enough, a black cloud was hovering over him. Rain began pouring from it as Jee-Han tried to take cover but it followed him everywhere.

"T-The hell! Hey, Sae-Young where are you!" His screams were not answered, at least not yet ayway.

"The usual Jee-Han is a game obsessed loser who wouldn't know anything about Sung-Gong...how suspicious" A mature and hostile voice came from on top of one of the pillars and Jee-Han looked to see Sae-Young standing there.

Crap.

He finally realized what was going on.

" _Just like Sun-Il, she thinks I'm an impostor. God damn it, does everyone in the Chunbumoon kill first and ask questions later!?_ " He was at a loss at what to say to Sae-Young who may have been smiling but Jee-Han knew underneath it was a cold and vicious gaze.

Unlike Sun-Il, Sae-Young wasn't a gamer so she wouldn't understand game references. Well, he at least needed to try.

"L-Listen Sae-Young, just hear me out for a-

"Shut up. I don't know who or what you are but you're not getting off easy for trying to pose as one of my friends. Let's unmask you, shall we?"

She spread her hands wide and behind her, a group of black clouds began to form as they produced a rumbling noise that sounded like lightning.

Jee-Han started to back away and recalled how terrifying Sae-Young could be when she was angry. The scary black clouds weren't helping in that matter either. At a loss of what to do, the idea of running away sounded promising but he realized he was in an Illusion Barrier so fleeing was pointless.

Before he could escape, he was surrounded by a thick fog that covered his entire view and he frantically looked around but all he could see was the fog.

 **Your movement speed decreases by 50 %**

 **You've been affected by the "Slow" status.**

" _Another debuff! Great, now I can't even run away!"_ He wasn't proud of it but Jee-Han was confident in his running away skills. However, with his movement speed being restricted by that much, he wasn't going anywhere. He cursed himself for not having items to remove status alignments before his brain went into over drive trying to think of a way out of this mess.

" _What do I do! What do I do! If I don't prove that I'm me, she'll kill me! But I love me! I don't want me to die! Wait, I have that skill! The one I got from Sun-Il to escape Illusion Barriers!_ " He felt like an idiot for forgetting about the very skill he desperately wanted. He wore a cocky grin and thrust his hand into the air, exaggerated of course.

"ID Escape!"

« **This is an inescapable zone** »

"Fuck!" He cried as his one last hope was rendered completely useless.

Before he could even react, he felt an powerful impact from his backside that sent him flying through the air. He landed on the ground, face first and rubbed his aching face. He checked his status window and saw that he had taken 150 points worth of damage and had gained more mastery of [ **Physical Endurance** ] before being conflicted on whether to be depressed or happy.

"Hmph, just as I suspected. You aren't the real Jee-Han. There's no way in hell the real one could survive a force like that!" He couldn't see her face but he knew Sae-Young was making a frightening expression.

He struggled to get up as his back creaked with agony but he needed to try and convince her.

"B-But it's me! I have an ability that turned my body into a Game-

"Enough with the deceit! What did you do with the real Jee-Han?!"

Though he was very close to dying, Jee-Han was touched by how far his friends were willing to go to make sure that he was safe. He knew they may have been rough around the edges but they truly cared about him.

But still, he wasn't about to die here. He had spent all week trying to think of ways to survive and he wasn't about to go through all that just to be killed because of a misunderstanding. That was just too pathetic.

"I'll prove that I'm the real Jee-Han! But first, Inventory!" He yelled and his inventory window popped up. He grabbed the bread and milk that he had stored over the weekend and materialized them.

"I choose bread and milk! I will eat to survive!" He started pigging out and as such, his health was being restored little by little.

As this was going on, Sae-Young stared blankly at the scene and was utterly confused at the spectacle. Impostor or not, this was still too strange wasn't it?

With his HP bar almost filled up, Jee-Han wiped his mouth and sported a weak smile as he had remembered something about Sae-Young that no impostor could have known. It was perfect. He would prove his innocence right here and now, the consequences be damned!

He took a deep breath and screamed with all of his strength.

"In the sixth grade Poong Sae-Young had a crush on a boy and started wearing black silk lace panties to impre- oomph!

A swift kick was delivered to Jee-Han's face as he tumbled across the room and landed face down on the floor. He clutched his neck and started coughing for air. He immediately sensed ferocious killing intent as he slowly looked up to see Sae-Young giving him a devilish smile with her hands on her hips.

"Han. Jee. Han. I clearly remember telling you to _never_ speak of that again..." she walked towards him as she cracked her knuckles.

Jee-Han feared for his life in that moment, which was ironic considering the method that was supposed to save his life was now endangering it. The halls were decorated by the sounds of Jee-Han's cries for help as Sae-Young educated the boy to never speak of her deepest shame.

* * *

Sae-Young stretched her body comfortably after she had finished disciplining him and dragged Jee-Han's corpse upstairs to where Sun-Il was staying. Once he had recovered enough to walk on his own, she let go of him and smiled contently.

Jee-Han rubbed his aching body everywhere as he stood a few steps away from Sae-Young. He knew she wouldn't let him off the hook easily for blurting out the secret but he didn't have a choice; she was going to kill him.

"You didn't have to be so rough you know..."

Sae-Young huffed as she crossed her arms.

"Blame yourself, I told you that if you brought it up again I wouldn't hold back".

"But that was the only way to get you to recognize me! Jeez, what's up with this clan, you guys need to learn some restraint"

"What? Isn't it natural to suspect people if they start talking about things they shouldn't know? How were we supposed to know that our loser friend Jee-Han was suddenly involved in the Abyss?"

There was that word again. Sun-Il had mentioned it too but Jee-Han still didn't know what they meant by it. Was it the name of some sort of organization involved with the super natural? He scoffed at the idea at first when he was in class but now, he wasn't so sure.

As Jee-Han was thinking while also still tending to his aching body, Sae-Young looked at him with a curious glance and had a warm smile on her face. She wouldn't admit it to his face but she actually thought he was a bit cute when he was talking about video games, just a little bit though. Of course, he was far from her ideal man but getting cute reactions out of him by teasing him was always fun. So she decided to do just that by throwing her arm around his neck and whispered in his ear.

"Hey Jee-Han, want to go on a date?"

" _Why you_... _! Why does she always do that! Sneaking up on me and getting too close! I can only hold myself back so much!"_ His face felt hot and he was beginning to get flustered as he looked the other way.

"N-No thanks, I'm good."

"Aw come on, why not? You don't want to go on a date with a beauty like me?" She grinned with a hint of playfulness in her voice.

"I-It's not that, my mom just wants me to study is all. Gotta hit those books you know?" Even he wasn't believing the bull shit excuses he was giving her. But he couldn't help it, he didn't want to go on a date with her. A "date" in her mind was another term for "Let's Torment Jee-Han All Day" and he wasn't having that.

Hell to the no.

Sae-Young looked unsatisfied with that answer as she let go of him.

"Study? You just waste your time playing games anyways"

She wasn't wrong.

Jee-Han grunted before turning away.

"I have a life outside games you know..."

Sae-Young just shrugged.

"Anyway, I think it's about time you told me how you ended up knowing about Sung-Gong"

Jee-Han scratched his head as he sighed.

"Honestly, I'm still trying to process it myself. Sun-Il didn't mention anything to you?"

She shook her head.

"Figures, I guess I'll have to explain from the start. You see, apparently I became a natural ability user and-

"W-Wait a second! _Your_ a natural ability user!? When!? How!?" She was practically up in his face asking all of these questions as Jee-Han was taken by surprise.

" _Jeez, her reaction is alot different from Sun-Ils. Is being one such a big deal?"_ He wondered before edging away from Sae-Young to get some space.

"I don't know how or when exactly, it just kinda happened. It's called "The Gamer" and it lets me live life as if I was a game character. Gaia gave it to me because I liked games so much and yea, that's about... what the hell are you doing?"

Jee-Han stopped short as he noticed Sae-Young's snickering and laughing. Did she think this was funny?

"That ability sounds perfect for you. Our Jee-Han the "Gamer", hah!" She ridiculed, making Jee-Han look down in embarrassment. He should have expected this.

Once she had finished laughing, she decided to explain to something to the clueless boy.

"Look, since you don't seem to be aware of it I'll explain it to you. Among all of the ability users in the Abyss, very few actually become natural ability users. I mean, it'd be complete chaos if Gaia started handing out powers to everyone with needy problems, right?"

Jee-Han nodded in agreement and continued to listen.

"You also have to remember that if we're going to compare natural ability users and acquired ability users, the former will always be stronger because they have both the advantage of not only being born with powers but also being able to train them. You're very lucky to have been born with your power, don't forget that"

Jee-Han looked at his right palm and frowned. Though she was right that he was really lucky to have obtained such power, his life had become a storm of crazy because of it. If it meant choosing between living a normal life and living a life where he was constantly faced with the possibility of death, he would always choose the former.

Sae-Young sighed in content as she looked at the boy. He was slow and dimwitted but at least he understood the risks involved with his powers. This was good, natural ability user or not, Jee-Han just wasn't suited for this kind of thing.

"Anyway, you can talk to Sun-Il about it in more detail later. He's in this room" They had finally made it to the last door at the end of the hall and she grabbed the door handle that resembled a Chinese dragon. She opened it for him and as he walked in, he noticed she wasn't following.

"You're not coming in?"

She shook her head.

"I'm fine, you just go ahead."

"Well... alright" He found it odd but decided to ignore it and walked inside of the room. Instantly, a calm and relaxing aura surrounded his body as if he was being cleansed. He noticed several notifications pop up that indicated that he was standing in a [ **Life Recovery Zone** ] that was the opposite of the room he had been in before. This time, it granted buffs as opposed to debuffs.

" _These are incredible... could I create things like these too when I level up?"_ He contemplated.

"Yo".

Jee-Han promptly snapped out of his day dreaming as the appearance of his best friend made his eyes widen. He was lying in a hospital bed, strapped up to a bunch of medical devices and was covered in bandages and stitches all over.

"What... what the hell is this..." Jee-Han could hardly believe his eyes. Was this a bad dream? Why was his best friend looking as if he had been hit by a truck?

"Don't be so melodramatic, it's not as serious as it looks. Sung-Gong had no intentions of killing me so there's no need for you to worry. Alright, Jee-Han?"

Killing.

Death.

Jee-Han knew these words well, better than he thought he would have. He had run into a few close calls not too long ago and never wanted to go through it again and yet, here his friend was facing death as if it was an everyday occurrence. He felt his grip on Sun-Il's bed tighten as he gritted his teeth.

"H-How can you talk about death so easily, Sun-Il?!"

"Because that's what it means to live in the Abyss"

Jee-Han's eyes broadened as he turned to look at his friend who had the same serious expression he did when he thought Jee-Han was an impostor.

"This is what I meant by danger, Jee-Han. Even as we stand here right now, people are being killed and hunted down everywhere. Whether it is on purpose or by accident, people die in the Abyss all the time."

"I-Is this why you didn't want me to come out yesterday?"

Sun-Il turned his head, which basically told Jee-Han that he was right. It made sense to him, Sung-Gong must have opened another Illusion Barrier yesterday and Sun-Il went to fight him.

"I know Sun-Il... I know the dangers of what you guys call the Abyss. I never asked to be a part of this crap, this isn't how I wanted my fantasy life to be!" He shouted.

Sun-Il faced his best friend and had a sorrowful expression. Unlike those born in the Chunbumoon, Jee-Han had no prior involvement with the Abyss until recently. His mind must have been in turmoil just thinking about all of these things. This is why Sun-Il wanted to keep him away from this; he didn't want to lose his precious friend to the hellish life that was the Abyss. As his grandfather had told him, those who get themselves actively involved in the Abyss can never go back to being normal again. It was just the law.

"B-But it's weird Sun-Il. I know I'm supposed to be afraid of these kinds of things but... for some reason... I don't think what I'm feeling is fear..."

Sun-Il's eye brows rose at what Jee-Han was saying and he noticed that his grip on his bed was getting tighter. Was it just Sun-Il's imagination or was he angry?

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Jee-Han let go of his bed and looked at his left palm and glared viciously at it.

"This feeling right now... it's making me feel like wanting to find the guy who did this to you and tear him to complete shreds... is that weird?"

Sun-Il was speechless. Of all the things that Jee-Han could have said in this kind of moment, _that_ was the least thing he would have expected from Jee-Han. He, no _everyone_ pegged him as a coward. So where was this coming from? Did Jee-Han have some sort of hidden personality he wasn't telling him about? Impossible, Sun-Il had known him most of his life and this had never come up before.

"W-What?"

"I know this Abyss thing doesn't have anything to do with me but now that I know about it, I just can't do sit by while my best friend is fighting some dangerous pedo!"

Sun-Il looked at Jee-Han awkwardly at the mention of the last word.

"P-Pedo?"

Jee-Han nodded affirmatively before grabbing one of Sun-Il's bandaged hands and giving him a determined look.

"I-I'm going to level up and learn how to fight!"

A brief silence filled the room before Sun-Il and even the voice of Sae-Young who was waiting outside erupted into hysterical laughing, shocking and embarrassing Jee-Han.

"When you say something like that so seriously... my stomach..." Sun-Il kept laughing even if it injured himself. This was priceless.

"Shut up! Don't treat my vow like some sort of joke!"

They stopped laughing after Jee-Han looked ready to cry and Sun-Il put on a warm smile.

"Well look at you Jee-Han, I thought you were terrified of this Abyss stuff. Since when did you grow a pair?"

Jee-Han snorted.

"Don't be stupid, I'm still scared shitless of dying and fighting but since Gaia gave me this power, I might as well do something with it, right?"

Sun-Il sighed before looking at his friend from top to bottom. He still had mountains to climb if he ever wanted to be something special but now that he was a natural ability user, his potential could be more than anything he imagined. He was actually starting to get anxious to see how Jee-Han would progress.

"So, how long will you be in here for?" Jee-Han asked out of the blue.

"Doctor said a month but with my body, it should only take a few weeks. That bastard Sung-Gong really did a number on me, though I suppose I should be grateful this is all he did. Even though my brothers are in a similar condition, they're injures will take longer since they're not as strong as me."

Jee-Han had no idea who he was talking about but nodded his head as if he understood before turning his attention to something that caught his interest. A yellow book was sitting on the table next to Sun-Il's bed and Jee-Han being Jee-Han walked over towards it and picked it up.

The book was labelled [ **Yunhumoon Soul Recovery** ] and his eyebrow rose.

"What's this?"

"Oh, that? It's just... what's wrong?" Sun-Il stopped short as Jee-Han had a baffled expression on his face.

Jee-Han blinked his eyes as he stared at the book and was in shock at the new notification message that popped up.

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

No. Freaking. Way.

"Uhm Sun-Il... is this book important to your clan or something?"

Sun-Il looked puzzled by the question.

"Well, kinda. It's doesn't belong to us; it's from our neighboring clan known as Yunhunmoon. Our elders exchanged some of our basic martial art techniques for it."

"Isn't that kind of risky? I mean, aren't they supposed to be top secret?"

Sun-Il shrugged.

"If it's only the basics, its fine. Why do you care? Don't tell me you want to join the Yunhunmoon?"

Jee-Han shook his head as a mischievous smile graced his face.

"Of course not. I just want to learn this skill, may I?"

Sun-Il looked at Jee-Han as if he was out of his mind. Why would he want to learn that? What would make him even think he _could_ learn it?

"Sorry man, you can't learn it. You need to know the Yunhunmoon Spirit Technique that only practitioners in their clan use. We're using the book to study the theory on how to use it but we haven't had any luck so far... oh right, you don't know what these things are" Sun-Il stopped short as he looked at Jee-Han who was making a "I don't know what you're talking about face".

Jee-Han listened to Sun-Il explain about something known as "Ki" that fills the world around them. The Inner Ki Technique was a method that martial artists used to store that ki into their bodies and utilized it to perform more advanced techniques. All in all, Jee-Han simplified it as: stuff floats in the air, you suck it up, become a badass. It worked better that way for him.

"Anyway, try learning it if you want. I'd like to see you make more progress than our clan has". Though he said that, Sun-Il had no faith that Jee-Han would succeed. It was simply a task that was out of his reach.

Jee-Han on the other hand seemed to notice this and sported a cocky grin.

"So just hypothetically speaking, you wouldn't mind if this book disappeared right?"

A strange question.

"Well it's just a copy of the original book so it wouldn't matter but why do keep asking all these weird questions? Is it something that's apart of your gamer ability?"

"Something like that. Just wait a second, I'll show you why I'm the Gamer!"

Jee-Han raised his index finger and pressed the "Confirm" tab. If his theory was correct, then he had just found his ticket to getting stronger. Before he could confirm this however, another message popped up.

 **You cannot learn this skill.**

 **Required INT:** **15**

 **Required VIT: 15**

" _It has restrictions? Come to think of it in games, in order to learn certain skills a person has to have the required stats..._ " He put a hand to his chin and then summoned his status window, observing his current VIT and INT. In order to get them both to 15, he'd have to spend 13 of the 15 points he had left. He felt a bit uneasy about spending his points without knowing too much about his ability but since this was for his theory, he'd take the risk.

"Alright, don't let me down!" He then pushed the arrow buttons and spent the points accordingly.

Sun-Il looked baffled as to why Jee-Han was repeatedly poking the air but decided not to question it. When it came to Jee-Han, this was considered pretty tame compared to his other weird moments.

After Jee-Han had finished spending the points, he pressed [ **Confirm (Y)** ] and a flash of white light appeared before him as the book evaporated and swirled around his body.

 **DING!**

 **You've obtained the skill "Yunhon Soul Recovery"**.

 **[Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) Lvl 1 EXP: 0.00 % MP: 50]**

 **With a soul stone, Hp 50 Recovery. MP 50 Recovery. Status effect removed. Illness removed.**

 **Without a soul stone, Hp 50 recovery. Status effect removed. Illness removed.**

Jee-Han closed his eyes and he felt a tunnel of knowledge flow into his body. Moments ago, he had no clue about what Sun-Il was talking about concerning Ki and spirits but now, all of the books contents just popped into his head as if he had known it all along. It was amazing!

Jee-Han clenched his fist pleasantly and grinned at Sun-Il who was still as lost as ever.

"W-What the hell just happened...? Where did the book go? Jee-Han... what did you do!?"

For Sun-Il, too many questions were hopping into his brain about what just happened.

But for Jee-Han? One thing was clear.

He had the potential to become a god.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Whoa, that was one doozy of a chapter. Jee-Han has finally discovered the potential his power possess and realizes that he can learn skills just by touching skill books and having the required stats. Gaia has made his power very convenient for him.**

 **Regarding descriptions, I'm sure you guys don't want to read about the same skills you've seen in the manga before so I decided to cut the descriptions down to just the basic summary and the effect. Once I introduce new skills, I'll be sure to explain them properly. That's about it.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Current Stats:**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** None **  
** **Level:** 7

 **HP:** 250/250 **  
** **MP:** 280/280 **  
** **STR:** 15 **  
** **VIT:** 15 (↑6 UP) **  
** **DEX:** 11 **  
** **INT:** 15 (↑7 UP) **  
** **WIS:** 6 **  
** **LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 2 **  
** **Money:** ₩3000

* * *

 **《Skills》**

 **Offensive:  
** Energy Bolt (Active) | Lvl: 1  
Rip (Active) | Lvl: 2  
Power Strike (Active) | Lvl: 3

 **Support:**  
Observe (Active) | Lvl: 2  
Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 3 **(** ↑ **1** **UP)**  
Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5

 **Miscellaneous:  
** ID Create (Active) | Lvl: 1  
ID Escape (Active) | Lvl: 1


	6. (Arc 1) Chapter 6

**A/N: Chapter 6 is out. Not much to say about the chapter, just that it was really fun writing this one because of the references and Jee-Han's god complex. Drop a review if you think you can figure out which references are out.**

 **LordXeenTheGreat:** **Thanks! I loved it too lol.**

 **Indra Senin: Yes and no. His potential is definitely god like but I definitely have plans to balance him and make sure he doesn't become like Saitama from OPM who is basically god.**

 **Akuma Kuro: Heh, that's a secret. He'll learn both but as for which one he'll specialize in, that's anyone's guess. He seems to be leaning towards martial artist though but that might change.**

 **Skyozoru: Much appreciated! I'm glad my fic has become one of your favs! Yes, the story will follow the canon for this first arc but will also have original scenes that I've added to spice things up. Look forward to it!**

 **Onward!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 6**

"I am your God"

Jee-Han dramatically lifted his head into the air and opened his arms wide as if he was a priest. After realizing that he now had the power to learn skill books simply by touching them, an overwhelming sense of superiority and accomplishment washed over him. I mean seriously, who wouldn't feel almighty with a power like this?

Sun-Il had a puzzled expression as his mind tried to make sense of the situation.

"Jee-Han... what in the..."

"Kukuku, I'll explain it to you my subject" Jee-Han puffed his chest out and flashed a cocky grin as Sun-Il tried to ignore the "subject" comment.

"Just think it about it, I'm a _game_ character. It's a common feature in RPG's to learn special abilities through skill books, right? Put two and two together and poof, I can learn skills just by absorbing the book! It's amazing, right!?" He sounded like a little school boy that just got a lollipop.

"So..." Sun-Il was still at a loss for words.

Jee-Han nodded.

"Yep, I can do this now!"

He grabbed a hold of Sun-Il's bandaged arm. What seemed like a foreign concept moments ago had become as natural as breathing now that he learned how to harness the books contents. He really owed Gaia for this!

"Yunhon Soul Recovery!" His arms began to emit a dazzling white light as the aura washed over Sun-Il's body, amazing the latter.

"W-Woah..." Sun-Il lifted his right hand and most of the pain he was feeling was gone, poof, vanished. He just didn't understand. How could Jee-Han learn something in an instant that his clan of veteran martial artists couldn't even begin crack?

"Kukuku, you may address me as your savior from now on" He was arrogantly smiling as he gave a hardy laugh. This was too freaking sweet.

"You know your ability is bullshit, right? This takes bull shit to all new sorts of heights..."

"Heh, just the words I'd expect from a commoner. Call it what you want, you can't deny my awesomeness. Now hold still, fixing you up shouldn't take that much longer"

After considering the benefits of being healed this early, Sun-Il lamented and let him work his magic. It only took a few more tries before Sun-Il was completely healed and was able to stand again as if he was never injured in the first place.

While Sun-Il checked his body over for any signs of side effects, Jee-Han clenched his fist and looked out the window. He was still no doubt terrified of the Abyss and the monsters that could come after him but it was too late to chicken out now. He was going to have to suck it up and get much stronger in order to not let something like this happen again to Sun-Il.

It was weird; a few days ago he never would have considered this choice, but it seemed that seeing his best friend all bandaged up was quite the motivator. Although, learning that he had become broken as hell with this new ability must have obviously had a role in this.

Who could really tell?

* * *

Walking through the eerily quiet streets of his neighborhood, Jee-Han had his hands in his pockets and looked surprisingly joyful as he hummed. It was night time already and the day was coming to an end. Speaking of today, it had been a really good day for Jee-Han.

He not only learned that he had an incredibly broken ability regarding skills, but he also completed the quest he received earlier that gave him some good experience points. It didn't level him up but he didn't care much about that.

At the moment, Jee-Han was trying to think of ways to exploit his ability as much as he could. Since he lacked the years of training that Sun-Il and Sae-Young had, he knew his only chance to catch up was to learn a bunch of skills to cover his weaknesses. Where could he get them though? It's not as if that Yunhon skill book was available in book stores; they were secret clan techniques that only those with connections could obtain.

" _Maybe the Chunbumoon will let me absorb some of their techniques? Sae-Young did ask me to come again tomorrow. That reminds me, her face when Sun-Il had been healed completely was priceless!_ " He chuckled as he recalled the event. He was close to their heir after all so the idea of learning from them wasn't far fetched.

All this thinking and planning made Jee-Han incredibly anxious as he was murmuring to himself about becoming over wasn't confident enough to become a front line martial artist like the others but thanks to his new skill, being a healer didn't sound too bad. He opened up both his skill and status window and observed his current arsenal.

In RPG's, you had to choose one out of several classes and were bound to whatever skills and abilities were in that specific class. It was only common sense that if they allowed everyone to learn every class, the game's balance would be shattered.

However, that wasn't the case with him. He didn't see any "class" restrictions when it came to learning skills, meaning that he had the possibility of using skills from _any_ class. If he was right, then unlike in games where healers had high magical power and low physical strength, he could have not only high magical power but _also_ high physical strength, with enough training of course. The mere thought made him ecstatic!

In any case, he decided he'd map out his plan when he got home. He passed the street corner and stopped when he felt a disturbance in the air around him.

He looked around the area and once again, noticed an absence of lights in the houses. He gritted his teeth in annoyance at having been stuck in _another_ Illusion Barrier and reached into his inventory, pulling out his bat and held it with both arms.

This time however, he didn't run. He took a deep breath to calm his increasing heart beat and looked at his surroundings. He found his targets and just as he expected, several zombies were limping around the streets making disturbing groans.

"Zombies again huh...? That dam Sung-Gong with his barriers, it never ends!" He made sure no zombies appeared behind him and had his back against a wall to come up with a strategy.

" _Normally, I'd use the escape technique I have to get out of here but..._ " He remembered his vow to Sun-Il and how he decided to stop running all the time and become stronger. If he couldn't handle a bunch of zombies, how was he supposed to stand up to monsters like Sung-Gong?

He lifted himself from the wall and found his first target slowly approaching from a few metres ahead. Jee-Han had a bitter smile as he squatted down. He waited for a good opportunity before he dashed forward, yelling [ **Power Strike!** ] as his bat smashed against the zombie's head.

He immediately noticed that the zombie had taken less damage compared to the zombies he dealt with before. He used [ **Observe** ] to analyze the zombie and saw that its level and HP were slightly greater than the previous ones. He cursed his bad luck and raised his bat again, activating [ **Power Strike** ] once more and dealt the finishing blow.

"Phew..." he sighed in relief as he let his guard down to take a breather before he felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg. He swiftly spun around to see a zombie chomping on his foot.

"Back off!" He used his free leg and kicked the zombie in the neck, sending it tumbling backwards. He used his momentum and jumped high into the air and slammed hit bat down with his signature skill, crushing the abomination. He fell to the floor and panted heavily as he watched it evaporate; earning him some more experience points.

He checked his status window and saw he had taken 20 HP worth of damage. Shit, even though he was gloating that his power was broken, here he was being ambushed by a bunch of living corpses. He needed a way to fight these things without getting up close and personal with them as close combat was still frightening as hell.

"Wait... that's it!" He remembered a skill he had unintentionally acquired earlier and rose to his feet, wiping the dust off of his clothes. He opened his skill window and his eyes looked around until it found the skill he was looking for.

 **[Energy Bolt (Active) Lvl 1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **A skill that attacks by emitting mana.**

 **Attack power increases by INT.**

 **Range 10m.**

This was it. Jee-Han had played enough games to know that mage type characters always fought by using long distance spells. This was his ticket to slaying those zombies!

"Now...how do I even use this thing? Like this?" He turned his hand into a "hand gun" and aimed it at one of the zombies that was walking by him.

"Uhm... Energy Bolt?"

His hand exploded abruptly and he coughed at the failed experiment, puffs of smoke entering his lungs.

"W-What did I do wrong? Wait, is the mana supposed to come out from palm?"

Realizing his mistake, this time he opted to leave his right hand's palm open and found his target limping out from a street pole.

"Energy Bolt!"

A blue sphere shot out from his hand and nailed the zombie right in the head, sending it crashing to the ground as Jee-Han looked dumbfounded.

"Oh my god, that was sick!" He joyfully proclaimed like a child and used [ **Observe** ] on the zombie to see the results. From what he gathered, it only took out 1/10th of the zombie's total health. It wasn't MP costly but at the same time, it didn't do enough damage to be a finishing blow.

Jee-Han picked up his bat that was lying next to him and thought of a brilliant idea to make good use of his new skill.

The zombie that was hit by the earlier blast had almost recovered from the attack, until Jee-Han used the skill again and sent it crashing down. He would have felt bad for the poor thing if it was human but it was a zombie, therefore he didn't care.

"This is perfect, I can use [ **Energy Bolt** ] to knock them down and then finish them off with my bat! This solves my close combat problem and my mana consumption problem since I won't need to waste as much mana using [ **Power Strike** ]. I knew I was a genius!"

A prideful smirk showed on his face before he noticed a shining crystal below his feet. He bent down to pick it up and looked at the dazzling purple stone. Getting drops from monsters was common in RPG's so this wasn't a surprise. In fact, it was even weirder how he hadn't got any drops before this.

 **«** **You've obtained the item "Soul Stone"** **»**

Hold up. Jee-Han traced his mind back to a few hours ago and instantly remembered that the [ **Yunhon Soul Recovery** ] technique he had learned used these stones to amplify its power. Who would have guessed that zombies would drop such an important item?

He placed it into his inventory before continuing to rampage the zombies that were unfortunate to cross his path. He always made sure however to fight them separately and always looked around his surroundings to not be cornered. He wasn't taking any chances.

After awhile of farming zombies, he lay back against a street pole and wiped some sweat off his face before smiling at his current level. He had gained two levels during his grind and now had 12 stat points to spend. Before he could decide on what to use them on however, a notification popped up.

 **«You've received the title "Apprentice Undead Hunter"** **»**

"Wha..." Jee-Han was understandably confused at the moment. In RPG's, title's were a means to allow a player to obtain special bonuses after completing certain requirements. It would come in the form of a nick name, such as "The Exterminator" for killing many bees or "The Fisherman" for catching lots of fish. Things like these.

"Well I'll be damned, I've even got a title system. Let's see what we got..." He clicked on the title and read that because he killed any number of undead 50 times, he was presented with this title.

"Wow, a thirty percent increase in offense and defense against undead? That'll definitely be helpful!" He didn't hesitate a second longer to equip it. His body was surrounded by a wild trace of mana as his new title had become equipped.

 **«** **Apprentice Undead Hunter** **»**

 **«** **The Gamer** **»**

 **Lvl 9 Han Jee-Han**

He felt a bit light headed, similar to what he experienced when he learned the skill book but overall, it was a warm feeling.

Once he closed his windows, he looked around a bit more for anymore zombies lurking about and found none. Strange, even though he cleared all of the zombies in his area there should have still been more popping up.

"Shouldn't Sung-Gong be here about now?" He wondered why the Black Summoner hadn't shown up yet despite being the one who created the space in the first place.

"You called?"

Jee-Han felt his heart skip several beats and he let out a girlish scream. He swiftly turned around and saw the man in question, Sung-Gong standing behind him with his hands in his pockets wearing the same tuxedo.

" _W-Where... where the hell did he come from!?_ " He had to put a hand on his chest to stop his heart from exploding. He nearly had a heart attack!

"Were you looking for me?" Sung-Gong asked with no hint of hostility. One could even call it friendliness.

"W-Well..." Jee-Han felt his legs shaking a bit as he stared face to face with the man responsible for not only summoning all of the zombies, but for also putting his best friend in the hospital. He may have said that he wanted to tear him to shreds before but now that he was this close to him, he wanted to rethink that plan. Like, _desperately!_

"I'm fascinated that you were once again able to enter my Illusion Barrier. What's your reason for doing so? I surely hope it isn't because you plan on trying to stop me as well?"

Jee-Han swallowed his spit when he mentioned the last part. It was true that he wanted Sung-Gong to stop making Illusion Barriers but with his current ability, convincing him would be impossible. If Sun-Il got wrecked by fighting this guy, then what chance did he have?

"N-No that's not it at all. I have no idea why I keep ending up in these Illusion Barriers, it might be because of my Gamer ability... _shit!_ " Jee-Han swiftly covered his mouth as he uttered his _supposed_ secret power.

Sung-Gong raised an eyebrow.

"Gamer ability? You have some sort of power as well?" Well that was a surprise. To think, a ordinary looking kid like him possessing a power. He had seen it all.

" _Crap! What should I do now? Since I already blabbed about it, should I just tell him? Would he feel sorry for me and stop making Illusion Barriers?"_ As his mind tried to think of a way out of this problem, Sung-Gong sighed as his question went unanswered.

"Well, it doesn't matter. If you don't want to lose your life, then try to figure out why you keep entering my Illusion Barriers. Pardon me" With that, he turned around and started walking away as Jee-Han calmed down.

"W-Wait!" He called, altering Sung-Gong's attention as he stopped.

"Do you need something?"

"W-Why did you do that to Shin Sun-Il?!" He didn't mean to shout but his suppressed anger couldn't resist.

"Shin Sun-Il? Who... oh! You must mean the Chunbumoon brat"

Jee-Han felt like giggling a bit when he heard him call Sun-Il a "brat" but knew it was neither the time nor place for that.

"Yea, I visited him today. Did you really have to go that far?"

Sung-Gong huffed and turned around.

"Aren't I the victim? I did not choose to engage myself with either the Yunhonmoon or the Chunbumoon and yet, they challenged me. Shouldn't I be the one complaining about being bothered? They're silly laws were preventing me from obtaining my dream. I don't need a reason to hurt people for that".

"And what is your dream exactly?" Jee-Han didn't know why he kept asking questions but he had to admit, he was curious.

"I don't see how that's any of your business. Just stay out of my way and you'll be fine, alright?" He ended his last sentence in a way that made it hard for Jee-Han to respond and jumped up, soaring through the air until his body just suddenly vanished.

Jee-Han fell to the ground as his knees had finally given in and heaved a sigh. He was scared, that was a very frightful experience in his mind. He wanted to punch himself in the face when he blurted out the fact that he had special powers. He felt like such an idiot!

"That was close..."

He balled his hand into a fist and punched the ground. He felt a bit pathetic for not even being able to stand up to Sung-Gong, despite all the boasting and arrogant claims he had made this morning to Sun-Il. With how he was now, he wouldn't last a second against that guy. But something was also bothering him now that he thought about it.

Why was he trying to fight him? Sun-Il was back to normal and was no longer hospitalized. As for himself, he could now escape Illusion Barriers so he didn't need to fear for his life anymore. Sung-Gong even admitted he didn't actively attack the other clans on purpose so him coming after anyone important to Jee-Han wasn't likely. Logically speaking, he didn't have a single reason to engage Sung-Gong anymore.

"So then, what I am gaining power for?" He looked at his palm and asked himself that question several times before escaping the Illusion Barrier and headed home. He didn't know how to answer that question, not yet anyway.

* * *

[ **8:00 AM, Yunhonmoon Center]**

A bouquet of beautiful crimson roses were wrapped and being carried by a young woman with bright red hair as she opened a door at the end of the hall. Walking inside, the groans of her fellow clansman made her flinch as she walked past several hospital beds.

"It...It hurts..." one of the men cried as he clutched his arm. The woman glanced over at him for a moment before continuing.

She made it to her destination and stopped at the last bed at the end of the room. A man, covered in bandages all over was resting with his right arm in a large cast. She walked beside him and placed the bouquet next to his bed on a table near the window. She opened the blinds to give the room some sunlight and made her way to his side, bowing her head in respect. As she bowed, she had a pained expression as she remembered the dreadful day of finding out what happened to her brothers and sisters.

"Shi...Shi-Yun...Is...that you?" The man had opened his eyes and his voice was weak, weak enough to believe that he was close to death.

"Yes, I'm here Oppa..." Shi-Yun stopped bowing and tried to put on a smile for him. He was her senior brother, not related by blood of course but she had known him since childhood so they were basically family.

"I'm...sorry. Seeing your Oppa...in this kind of state..."

She shook her head and gently placed her hand on his cast.

"Please, just rest Oppa. Be thankful that you're still alive"

It looked like it took some effort for him to smile before he seemed to fall back asleep. Shi-Yun left his arm and brushed back a strand of his hair before bowing again. She had left the room and closed the door behind her. She had wanted to stay more but she was transferring to a new school today and couldn't afford to be late. Besides, she could visit him after school.

Once she had left the compounds of the Yunhonmoon Center which was tall white building, she looked at her watch and clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Not good, I'll be late at this rate" She didn't want to make a bad impression on the first day but she knew she couldn't make it to school on time without taking a short cut.

Shi-Yun sighed as she walked around her clan's building and looked both ways, checking to see if anyone was watching. Once she was sure, she closed her eyes and concentrated her energy, creating an Illusion Barrier.

"I shouldn't have any problems now" She nodded before running forward towards the school. Since she didn't have to worry about anyone seeing her, she jumped onto the nearest building and hopped from roof to roof. It was really fun too so she didn't mind using this method.

As she approached the school, the image of the Black Summoner appeared in her mind and she balled her fists in frustration. Shi-Yun didn't know much about him but one thing was made clear after what he had done to her clan; he was an enemy. She had tried to take her revenge against him by challenging him but unfortunately, she was unable to finish her match. It was weird though, she could have sworn she remembered some idiot getting in her way but as much as she tried to remember, it was quite foggy.

Ignoring it, she finally reached the school and landed on the roof top. She relaxed her breathing and held a sense of accomplishment at being able to run the whole distance without losing her breath. She really had to thank Oppa for that, the training was worth it.

She broke her own Illusion Barrier and made her way into the building by following the stairs. She didn't want to undo the Barrier at the front entrance since it would have been a disaster if she appeared out of nowhere. Being called a freak on her first day was far from ideal.

She was now in the hallways and took out her class schedule; searching for the designated room before crossing paths with a teacher. Luckily, it had been her new homeroom teacher and he welcomed her to the school. He led Shi-Yun towards the classroom and asked about her reasons for transferring, Shi-Yun just answered that it was due to family problems. Of course, this was a lie but he didn't need to know that.

Once they had made it to the class, he had instructed her to wait outside for his signal to come in and she nodded in accordance. He went back in and began the introductions as Shi-Yun poked her head inside the room to scan her new classmates. There was no one who really caught her interest as everyone looked average, not only in looks but also in stature. She was a bit disappointed that she didn't get a chance to see the Chunbumoon's heir as she had been told that he attended this school.

She heard him call her name to enter the class and she took a deep breath.

" _You're representing the Yunhonmoon, stay sharp!_ " She mentally pumped herself up before sliding the door open and walked inside.

"My name is Kwon Shi-Yun. I transferred here due to family problems. Please take care of me". She had hoped she had done a good introduction as she peeked up and was confused by the conflicted stares she was getting. On the boys side, everyone was drooling and celebrating but on the girls side, they were shooting her annoyed looks and sticking their tongues out.

" _D-Did I do something wrong?_ " she had no clue as to what she had done wrong but paid it no mind as the teacher instructed her to sit at the desk in the back. She nodded before making her way towards it.

As she was walking, her eyes trailed to the side to catch a male student who looked a bit jumpy, as if he was being targeted. Strange, she had never met this boy in her life and yet, he looked as if he was terrified of her.

She passed him, not bothering to give him a second look and found her way to her seat. She packed her things next to the desk and looked out the window, not interested in the lesson that was going on. She had way more important matters to think about and had to think of some way to defeat the Black Summoner. Her clan's honor was on the line.

During the next few periods, Jee-Han occasionally looked behind him to see what Shi-Yun was doing and noticed that she hadn't said anything to him. Why? Did she forget who he was? He was flabbergasted when he saw that she was the transfer student and was scared that she'd recognize him but that didn't seem to be the case at all.

" _Is she pretending not to know me?_ " that though crossed his mind. It would actually be a wise decision since they were in school and the last thing they both needed was for their secrets to be exposed.

But that wasn't what was bothering him the most. It was the fact that _no one_ was interested in her. Whether it be the perverted boys or the two faced girls, not a single person had approached Shi-Yun since the moment she had sat down.

He just couldn't understand why. Sure, she was strikingly beautiful and intimidating but surely, there had to be at least _one_ person who had enough balls to approach. He considered doing it himself but scratched out that plan. He didn't have the balls too.

Period after period, no one approached her. It was as if she was invisible towards them. Could she have used a spell of some sort to camouflage herself?

As the final period approached, Jee-Han groaned at the impending class. He hated chemistry the most since he didn't get most of it and his teacher being a strict douche didn't help.

The door slide wide open and just as Jee-Han was about to stick his tongue out at the usual teacher, he held it at the sudden surprise.

Standing in front of the class was none other than Sung-Gong who held a teacher's manual in his hands as he placed his hand on his desk.

" _What is that-_ " Jee-Han began.

"- _Bastard doing here!?_ " Shi-Yun finished as she growled ferociously towards the man who single handily crippled most of her clan.

Whispers and murmurs started going around the classroom at the new home room teacher before Sung-Gong slammed his hand on the desk.

"Quiet. My name is Hwan Sung-Gong and I'll be in charge of chemistry from now. Your old teacher was hospitalized so I'll be taking over. I look forward to working with all of you" he cracked a small smile as it looked as if he noticed Jee-Han and Shi-Yun who were both making bewildered expressions.

" _I can't be the only one who's suspicious that this MBI looking dude is our teacher!?_ " Jee-Han mentally screamed as he noticed not a single person in the class aside from Shi-Yun suspected anything. In fact, they looked pleased to say the least. He knew their older teacher was far from pleasant but this was ridiculous.

* * *

 **[3:50 PM, Chunbumoon Dojo]**

School had ended and Jee-Han already made his way to the Chunbumoon Dojo as requested by Sae-Young. He sighed as he remembered how utterly tense he was at not only having Shi-Yun as a classmate but Sung-Gong as his chemistry teacher. Was this the world's way of trolling him again?

He reached the dojo and knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" he recognized Sae-Young's voice.

"It's me, Jee-Han. I'm here just like you wanted"

The doors to the dojo slowly opened and Sae-Young waved at him, a warm smile plastered on her face. She ran up towards him and grabbed his arm, dragging him inside.

"Hey, how come no one else is here?" he noted as he looked around.

"Oh, I told them not to come today. We've got some important things to discuss, ya know?"

"Important stuff? Like what?" Jee-Han was curious, what could they be talking about?

Sae-Young had an annoyed look, as if she was expecting he would already know what they called him for.

"It's you, dummy! You and your gamer ability is what we're going to discuss! Did you already forget you completely healed Sun-Il yesterday?"

"Oh... right" He found it almost laughable at how he had forgotten about it. Guess today was just really stressful.

He was led inside by Sae-Young and they made their way to the backyard where they saw two people standing in the open grass. One was of course, Sun-Il who was half naked and doing some sort of breathing exercise, sweating profusely all over.

" _What's he doing? And why isn't he wearing a shirt? Is the bastard showing off? I should work on my physique too..._ " He lamented before turning to the other individual standing beside him.

This was Shin Sun-Oh, Sun-Il's grandfather and the head of the Chunbumoon. Basically, he was the big boss around here and was the highest authority in the clan. He was also a pain in the ass and a complete stick in the mud regarding games, according to Jee-Han.

"So you've come..." his voice was pleasantly vibrant and was full of wisdom.

"Hey gramps, been awhile hasn't it? You still hate games?" Jee-Han teased.

"Hmph, you're still as geeky as you've always been. It's because you waste all of your time playing those ridiculous-

"Yea yea, same old story each time. Don't you get tired of saying the same thing?"

The two of them butted heads as they always did, causing Sae-Young to giggle a bit. These two were always at each other's throats because of their conflicting opinions regarding games. Not to mention, Sun-Il only knew about games because of Jee-Han, which didn't sit well with Sun-Oh.

" _Still the same as ever...Hm, I wonder what his level is...?"_ Jee-Han took a glance was dumbfounded to see that it was hidden with question marks.

" _First mom and now him...what's up with those questions marks? Is it because they're levels are alot higher than mine?_ " It was a possibility since in RPG's some enemies would have their stats hidden due to the level gap being enormous.

"What are you gawking at? Come over here already..."

"R-Right..." Jee-Han complied and made his way over towards the two of them.

Sun-Il inhaled deeply and then exhaled as he absorbed the ki floating around in the air into his body. It was incredible, the Yunhon Soul Recovery technique really was amazing. An injury that should have left him bedridden for weeks was already perfectly healed so quickly. He was sure that it was mostly thanks to Jee-Han's game ability that had produced such incredible results but he had to hand it to the Yunhonmoon clan, they're Ki techniques were as impressive as Chunbumoon's. He didn't want to admit it but he was jealous, a skill that no one in his clan could grasp the concept of was learned by Jee-Han in an instant. The world sure was cruel.

"How do you feel, Sun-Il?" The elder asked.

"Perfect, I feel better than I did a few days ago."

Sun-Oh nodded and instructed him to rest before turning to Jee-Han with a curious look on his face.

"How did a geek like you become a natural ability user?"

Jee-Han ignored the rude comment before smiling at the old man's jealously.

"It just kinda happened; I know it must be hard to see someone like me become amazing. But why did you hide all of these things from me, old man?"

"Knowing about the Abyss isn't a good thing!" His voice was louder than Jee-Han had anticipated and he flinched.

Sun-Oh sighed as he rubbed his forehead in exasperation.

"Honestly... I've been too soft on you because you are Sun-Il's friend. I should have been stricter..."

Jee-Han shrugged.

"Well, no sense in worrying about the past. What's done is done"

Sun-Oh huffed before turning away. Bratty kid, it was a hundred years too early for a kid to be lecturing him.

"So... what do you plan on doing from now on?" The elder asked.

"W-What do you mean?"

Sae-Young butt in.

"Isn't it obvious? We heard from Sun-Il that you plan on leveling up. Are you sure that's what you want? It's still not too late to go back to being a normal student."

"Hush Sae-Young, this is his decision. For some reason that I still don't understand, Gaia has granted this geek the power of his dreams. What he does with it is up to him..."

Jee-Han thought about the geezer's words as he recalled his experiences when dealing with his power. He knew that even though he had gained an amazing ability, was leveling up really what he wanted? The thought of even more terrifying monsters than the zombies plagued Jee-Han's heart. He wasn't a warrior, he knew that. He was a lazy coward that wanted to spend his life playing games, not live in one. And yet, even as he thought about these things he still knew deep down that he wanted to explore. He wanted to know more about his powers and wanted to become stronger. Some call it instinct but it was human nature to explore the unknown.

Even more than exploration, he didn't want his best friend fighting in such a dangerous place without him. When he saw Sun-Il in a hospital bed, he harbored thoughts that he had never thought of before like revenge. He wanted to get back at Sung-Gong for hurting him but knew he didn't have the strength.

"This gaming power of mine, I think it was given to me for a purpose. I'm going to level up and I'm going to master this power, I don't have a reason yet but you could say that finding a reason _will_ be my reason. If that makes sense..." he awkwardly laughed as he thought he sounded like some sort of cliché anime hero.

He observed the facial expressions of those gathered around him and saw that they were all smiling, not one of ridicule like they usually did but more like acceptance, as if watching your son or daughter grow up.

"Hmm...so Jee-Han can say cool things from time to time." Sae-Young teased as she poked him in his chest. He blushed a bit before swatting her hand away and crossed his arms.

"I can say cool things alot of the time"

She giggled and looked at Sun-Il who nodded. He already knew he would make this decision and was prepared to lend him a hand. It was going to be dangerous but he would protect Jee-Han until he was strong enough to protect himself, it was just that simple.

"I see, that is your decision. Alright, Sae-Young go get it" The elder ordered as Sae-Young nodded and went back inside.

"What's going on?"

"You said you wanted to become stronger right?"

* * *

 **A/N: Phew, done Chapter 6. It seems each chapters is longer than the previous one.**

 **So we've finally reached the point where Jee-Han's grinding of skills to become stronger has debuted. I'm sure you all noticed the extra scenes I included where Sung-Gong and Jee-Han met one another and we got to see things from Shi-Yun's POV. You'll be seeing more of these as the story goes on.**

 **I know alot of you are hoping for some more divergence but you have to be patient. The story hasn't yet truly taken off yet so you'll have to bear through it. I promise you, once the foundations have been laid out, you won't be disappointed by the new story I have in mind.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Apprentice Undead Hunter》 **  
** **Level:** 9 (↑2 UP)

 **HP:** 470/470 **  
** **MP:** 380/380  
 **  
** **STR:** 15 **  
** **VIT:** 15 **  
** **DEX:** 11 **  
** **INT:** 15 **  
** **WIS:** 6 **  
** **LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 12 **  
** **Money:** ₩3000

* * *

 **《Skills》**

 **Offensive:  
** Energy Bolt (Active) | Lvl: 3 **(↑2 UP)**  
Rip (Active) | Lvl: 2  
Power Strike (Active) | Lvl: 3

 **Support:**  
Observe (Active) | Lvl: 2  
Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lvl: 1

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 3  
Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5

 **Miscellaneous:  
** ID Create (Active) | Lvl: 1  
ID Escape (Active) | Lvl: 1


	7. (Arc 1) Chapter 7

**A/N:Nothing to say on this one, just thanks to all of those that are following and liking the story. Really appreciate it!**

 **Inimicus: I see what you mean. I'll remember to keep making sure Jee-Han gains the appropriate levels for even the most basic of skills and activities. Actually, what you said had me thinking alot how in the original manga Jee-Han rarely if ever gained any stat points when he was running away or fighting. Although, it does get daunting at times trying to keep a hold of every stat Jee-Han is supposed to gain or level. I suppose that's just the price author's of these kind of stories have to pay.**

 **Skyozoru: Thanks for the advice! I'm glad that you enjoy what I try to do with the supporting characters. Haha, I'm glad you like Shi-Yun as she's easily one of my fav's in this story so look forward to more stuff from her. As for your question about the story, Yes the canon will still be appearing but don't fret, the divergence is upon us soon. I'll fix the repeated words immediately, thanks!**

 **Onward!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 7**

"You said you wanted to become stronger, right?"

Jee-Han hesitated for a second as he was put off by the intimidating glare the elder gave him. He looked at him with a glare that indicated he was sizing him up; questioning if his intent to become stronger was fake or not. Jee-Han swallowed his spit, clenched his fist and pulled out a toothy grin. He was going to show him his resolve.

"You bet your ass I do!"

The elder nodded in satisfaction as Sae-Young had returned, carrying a box that had a weird symbol on the front. He guessed it was their insignia or something.

"What's this?" Jee-Han could feel a mysterious but familiar presence emitting from the box, like what he felt when Sun-Il was practicing. In his mind, he gave himself a thumbs up for being able to pick up on these kind things now. It was probably an after effect from learning the **[Yunhon Soul Recovery** ].

Sae-Young opened the box in front of him and smiled.

"In here are our clan's most basic martial arts techniques. Anyone outside our clan is free to learn them, even geeks like you"

Jee-Han stuck his tongue out at that last remark.

"So, what am I supposed to do with these?" He asked as he walked forward to look at what was inside.

"Just wait a sec, I'll get them out for you" She leaned forward to pick them up, revealing a bit of her cleavage from her v neck yellow shirt. Jee-Han who was standing right in front of that glorious view blushed furiously at the sight.

" _Damn it Sae-Young! Are you purposely giving me the nip slip, you vile temptress!?"_ He cursed the old man for not scolding her for not trying to cover herself up anymore. Although, it's not as if anyone here would take advantage of Sae-Young; not unless they were suicidal.

"Now, try learning that Jee-Han. Before we begin training your scrawny ass, I'd like to observe how your ability works."

" _Who's scrawny!?_ " Jee-Han growled at the geezer before turning back to the book. Before he could learn them however, he needed to know one thing.

"You don't mind if these disappear right?"

The elder shrugged.

"They're copies so I don't care. Consider these your late birthday presents."

Jee-Han side eyed him before observing the book. Like before, a notification popped up.

 **You've obtained the skill book [Chunbu Spirit Technique]**

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

He pressed confirm, because why the hell not? The book glowed before bursting into feathers and surrounded his body. The knowledge and contents of the book poured into Jee-Han's head.

 **[Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) LVL 1 EXP: 0.00 %]**

 **A basic inner Ki technique developed by the Chunbumoon.**

 **A technique that purifies Ki, the world's basic energy and stores it inside the ki center, allowing the user to freely use that power.**

 **Passively Increases STR, DEX, VIT, INT, and WIS by 10 %.**

 **Additional 30 increase in STR and DEX when active.**

It was amazing

It was such a wonderful and captivating feeling that Jee-Han felt as if he had the power to do anything. The knowledge of utilizing ki was something that Jee-Han couldn't believe he hadn't learned before. Like the Yunhon Soul Recovery technique, it just felt natural to know about it now.

Also, he was in awe of the bonuses that the technique bestowed upon him. It increased all but one stat by 10 %! Not only that but also, the increased bonuses of the technique would improve when his MP increased, making it a completely broken ability! Jee-han could only marvel at his Gamer ability and how it could convert such a basic ability into something this incredible.

"So, how do you feel?" The elder asked as he was taken by slight surprise when the book really did vanish. The boy had spoken the truth.

"Incredible… using Ki…absorbing Ki…I understand it now." As he said that, the elder narrowed his eyes and saw that Jee-Han's body was being surrounded by a lime green aura, an indication that his body had become accustom to using the Chunbumoon's method of accessing Ki.

"Sae-Young, give him another"

"Roger that" She rummaged through the box and handed Jee-Han another book.

 **You've obtained the skill book [Self-Enhancement Breathing Technique]**

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

"Guess I'll learn this too" He pressed confirm but an error message had appeared.

 **A detrimental effect may appear if this skill is learned due to the Chunbu Spirit Technique.**

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

"W-What does a detrimental effect mean?" He was puzzled. He had never seen this kind of message before.

Sae-Young raised an eyebrow "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You'll have to explain that to her Jee-Han, she's never played games before" Sun-Il had finished resting and came back into the group as he put on a shirt.

" _About time…_ " Jee-Han absently thought.

"What happened when you tried to learn the skill?" The elder asked as he too was curious.

"An error message occurred. I think it's trying to tell me that something bad will happen if I learn this skill differently than it was meant to be learned"

The old man rubbed his chin, analyzing the aspects of Jee-Han's strange ability.

"Your ability is very strange indeed, it creates short cuts that otherwise would be impossible to create. Hmm…"

Jee-Han felt uncomfortable being gazed at so passionately at by the geezer.

"I want to test something. Give him _that_ one, Sae-Young"

"Are you sure gramps?"

The elder nodded and Sae-Young shrugged her shoulders. She pulled out another book and handed it to him.

As he held the book, Jee-Han looked between the two of them. "Is this important or something?"

"You could say that, just try learning it. If it says anything about a detrimental effect, don't learn it."

"Right…"

Seeing no reason to object, Jee-Han looked at the book.

 **You've obtained the skill book [Chunbu Divine Technique]**

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

He confirmed and yet again, he received another error message. However, this one was familiar.

 **You cannot learn this skill.**

 **Your INT must be at least 90.**

Woah.

A stat requirement was expected but Jee-Han wasn't expecting the requirement to be _that_ high. It must have taken a scientific genius to have an INT that high and he was no Albert Einstein. Which begged the question, did anyone here know this technique? Surely the old man would know it. It was a thought for another day.

"Yea…I can't learn this skill. I need to have ninety INT in order to use it."

The elder was confused "INT? What's that?".

"Basically, game characters have abilities represented in numerical values. INT would refer to a person's intelligence and my intelligence isn't even close to the requirement"

"Hmm, I don't quite grasp these terms you keep using. I suppose I'll need to learn about them in order to fully understand your ability" The elder brought a hand to his lengthy beard and stroked it.

Jee-Han's eyes lit up "Heh, so you finally see the importance of games? Why don't I recommend you some?".

"I'll pass…" The elder knew he'd say that.

"Che… spoil sport."

"But does your gamer power really allow you to become smarter just by raising your INT?" Sae-Young asked.

Jee-Han sported a happy grin "Pretty much, it dumbs it down for me. Just the way I like it"

"How strange…" The elder thought about it for a minute and concluded that there was only one explanation for the effectiveness of his powers.

"You must be a late bloomer then, how frightful…"

Jee-Han cocked his head to the side.

"Late bloomer?"

"Yes. We classify natural ability users by two terms, Early Flowers and Late Bloomers. Those who belong to the former are ability users who are tremendously powerful from the start. Those classified under the latter like yourself are those whose power has almost limitless potential. Consider yourself lucky, very few of your kind exist in the Abyss"

"I-I see…" That _did_ sound impressive to Jee-Han.

"Give him the others, he'll need them to start his training"

"Right" Sae-Young complied and handed Jee-Han several different books. He ended up carrying half a dozen books and looked at the elder with disbelief.

"Can I seriously have all these?" It may have only been the basics but still, to be handing out this many for free seemed too good to be true. There had to be a catch.

"Why are you hesitating? You said you wanted to become stronger, no? So don't complain and just take them, I already told you that they're only copies so there shouldn't be an issue"

Under normal circumstances, handing out this many books to someone of Jee-Han's status wasn't common but since Jee-Han _was_ somewhat family, he'd make an exception.

"Well, I'll accept then" He didn't see any point in resisting further and grinned happily, confirming them all.

He felt as if he was going to faint as the rush of knowledge flushed into his head when he learned several abilities of the Chubumoon.

 **You've learned [Chunbu Sword Technique]!**

 **You've learned [Chunbu Martial Arts Technique]!**

 **You've learned [Chunbu Foot Technique]!**

 **You've learned [Chunbu Outer Ki Technique]!**

 **You have learned all of the Chunbumoon's basic martial arts techniques.**

 **Skill set effect is activated.**

 **STR, VIT, DEX, and INT are increased by 2.**

" _T-This power…!_ " He thought as he stared at his hands and feet.

'So, how do you feel?" The elder asked.

Jee-Han shot him a cocky grin.

"I've just gotten tons stronger, I can feel it!" He clenched his hand firmly, pleased with the results. Today's trip over here had been beneficial in spades!

The elder sighed "To be able to learn and use techniques just by touching them…what a cheaty ability".

"That's what I said" Sun-Il commented with a shrug.

"Don't be jealous of my greatness!"

The elder chose to ignore that and walked straight towards Jee-Han, grabbing his palm. He could see small remnants of the Chunbu's ki envelop his body and nodded in confirmation.

"As I suspected, your power allows you to learn skills quickly but because you skip the entire process of _learning_ the skill through trial and error, you start off with a very weak skill . You said you have things called skills and masteries, right?"

Jee-Han nodded before taking out his trusty bat that had been damaged over time and was slightly bent.

"Yup, if I use skills often they'll gain experience and level up. Here, watch!" He slammed his bat into the ground, spraying bits of dirt around his feet. The impact had left a noticeable hole and the elder was intrigued by it.

"I could have never done something like that if I hadn't increased by **[Blunt Weapon Mastery** ]".

"I see. Well, you'll just have to start practicing our clan's techniques in order to properly use them. Starting tomorrow, you'll be training here. I'll talk to your mother about it so don't –

"H-Hold on a second! Why do I have to train here!?"

Sae-Young put her hands on her hips and frowned "Is that a problem?"

Jee-Han let the bat fall to his side and used it to support his body, sighing at how the elder and Sae-Young failed to grasp how his powers works. The burden of being awesome was almost too much for Jee-Han.

"What's the point of doing your training if I can just grind these skills at home? All I've got to do is keep using them and they're levels will go up and poof, I'm a badass"

An awkward silence followed as Jee-Han looked in between the three of them and raised an eyebrow. Did he say something wrong?

"Wow, you two were right. He really is a game idiot" The elder announced, breaking the silence. Jee-Han growled under his breath but before he could retort to the geezer's wise cracks, Sun-Il raised a hand to let him finish.

"Look, just _knowing_ the basics doesn't mean you've gotten any stronger. Grinding may work in increasing their power but you still lack experience in actually using these new skills. Thinking like that is only going to get you killed in the long run, so I suggest you take some notes on what this old fossil has to say. Do you understand?"

Truthfully, Jee-Han didn't really but he had an idea on what the geezer was saying. He was basically saying that if he didn't have any combat experience, he'd get killed.

Jee-Han sighed and accepted it.

"Fine, I'll train here."

The elder nodded in satisfaction before turning to Sun-Il.

"I can trust you'll take care of it?"

Sun-Il nodded in agreement and with that the elder had said his farewells before returning inside.

Jee-Han looked a bit depressed as he placed his bat inside his inventory and headed to the entrance with Sun-Il and Sae-Young.

"Great, now I've gotta do martial arts training… I might not be cut out for this…" He lamented. Sure, he said he'd get stronger but suddenly becoming a martial artist? Could his body handle that kind of rough training? He was hoping all he'd have to do is just grind these skills and he'd get stronger but the elder insisted otherwise.

Sun-Il patted him on the back.

"Hey, at least give it a shot man. Who knows, you could discover you have a natural talent for it".

Jee-Han looked hopeful.

"Really?"

"No not really, I just like to be optimistic".

Jee-Han slumped again, causing Sae-Young this time to pat his shoulder.

"Hey cheer up Jee-Han! Just work hard and you'll be able to do it!"

"Do you really believe that?"

"No not really…"

Jee-Han slumped _again_ and Sun-Il and Sae-Young shot each other looks of "Maybe we shouldn't have said that".

After Jee-Han had gotten over his slump, he opened the gate and walked outside, saying his goodbyes to his "friends". He used the term very loosely now.

Before he could go though, he noticed Sun-Il still at the door with a smile on his face.

"Hey…Jee-Han…"

Sun-Il's low and serious voice caused Jee-Han to turn around.

"What's up?"

"I really owe you big time for treating my injuries. My brother's Phantom Rain and Phantom Wind also say their thanks. I don't think we could have survived going weeks without being able to train".

Jee-Han snorted before adopting a grin.

"Heh, well my powers of healing are just that impressive. So don't sweat it"

Sun-Il sighed but this time; it was a friendly sigh as he waved a hand goodbye and closed the gate.

Jee-Han on the other hand looked towards the sun high above the sky and took in a deep breath, before slapping himself across the face. He had prepared himself to start training so he needed to stop complaining and get with it. He made the choice to become stronger and even if it meant going against his lazy instincts, he needed to endure it. Seeing Sun-Il in a hospital was something Jee-Han never wanted to see again. For his sake, Jee-Han wanted to be someone he could count on if he was ever in a bind.

He wasn't going to let him fight alone.

* * *

 **[7:00 PM, Chunbumoon Dojo]**

Drinking a refreshing cup of green tea, the head of the Chunbumoon clan, Shin Sun-Oh was supervising Sun-Il who was upside down, doing push ups. He had already completed eleven sets of one hundred push ups and would be going for his last set soon. A pretty basic exercise if he said so himself.

As he gently placed his tea cup back down, he recalled his encounter with Jee-Han and heaved a troubled sigh. Of all the things to happen, that geek had to become a natural ability user. It wasn't so much a shock as it was just incomprehensible that someone like him could obtain such a tremendous ability. The Chunbumoon were a clan made up of acquired ability users so seeing a natural one was quite rare, especially a Shinin class.

They classified natural ability users under a hierarchy system. It went:

 **Shinin** → **Ren** → **Phantom** → **Yoma** → **Human**

Abilities under the [ **Shinin** ] class were able to change aspects of the world to help their powers grow. The fact that Gaia granted such an ability to someone like Jee-Han irked the geezer to no end, but he supposed that it was better than a person who aimed to bring about pain and destruction received that power. If it was the gamer brat, he would definitely not be a threat. Hell, perhaps his ability could be used to strength to Chunbumoon? A light-hearted chuckle escaped the elder's lips at the thought. What an amusing thought.

"Grandfather, I've finished" The elder's gaze fell upon Sun-Il who had standing up right and sweating, having finished his exercises.

"Very well, since you've just recovered we'll leave it at that. We'll begin your advanced training tomorrow. Prepare yourself properly for it"

"Of course" Sun-Il bowed as he complied with his orders and walked into the main house.

The elder stretched his aching back before getting up and heading towards the entrance of the dojo. He had an appointment with a certain someone today so he wouldn't want to be a bad host and be late. His eyes darted to every corner of the house, confirming that no one was watching what he was about to do. He concentrated and by using his ki, created an Illusion Barrier.

"It's been awhile, Sun-Oh"

Sun-Oh turned his attention to behind him and saw the man he was waiting for, Hwan Sung-Gong sitting comfortably on the edge. He rose to his feet and jumped, gracefully landing on the tip of his shoes and stuffed his hands within his own pockets.

"...I see you're still as cheeky as ever" Sun-Oh retorted.

Sung-Gong found this humorous and lightly chuckled before adjusting his glasses.

"I'm surprised. I was confident that you'd show me a more hostile introduction after what I did to your grandson and friends"

Sun-Oh's face cramped up once he heard that and he expressed a deep sigh.

"Forgive me for that. I never wished to send Sun-Il and the others to engage you but I didn't have much of a choice as the other family heads were hounding me to do something about your actions in the Seoul region" Sun-Oh shook his head in disgust. "Negotiations were a much simpler solution but alas, time was short. I'm grateful to you though, the fact that you only injured them to that extent is already a great mercy when killing them out of annoyance was an option" In the corner of his mind, the elder thanked Jee-Han once again for healing his students, allowing his guilt for what had happened to ease if only by a little.

Sung-Gong's gaze shifted towards the moon "I'm not as cold blooded as some people perceive me to be. I won't tolerate anyone getting in my way but I won't kill someone unless they give me a reason too. It's that simple"

Sun-Oh nodded, understanding his intentions. Sung-Gong may have appeared to be a villain but that was very far from the truth. If only the other clan heads would believe this, Sun-Oh wouldn't have as many wrinkles as he did now.

"In any case, I just want to state my terms so that there's no confusion. All I'm asking is for you and your clan to stay out of the way and don't interfere. If you can comply with that, we won't have any issues"

"...and what of the Yunhonmoon?"

A playful smirk appeared on Sung-Gong's face.

"I don't think they'll be bothering me any time soon"

The elder chose not to say anything more on that subject.

"I see… I just hope you understand the possible repercussions of your soul gathering. Your power is great and as such, your Illusion Barriers hold the risk of collapsing. Not to mention-

"I'm aware of that" Sung-Gong cut him off.

"I purchased this Illusion Barrier fully aware of the consequences, Sun-Oh. The Abyss may be a shady place, but with my reputation, only a fool would dare sell me an item that is unstable"

The elder knew there was truth in what he was saying and grunted in agreement. He and his clan had purchased several items from the Abyss so he could vouch for the quality. However, that didn't eliminate the possibility of being sold something that was not meant to be used.

"Sun-Il informed me that you received permission from the Existence Eater. Is this true?"

Sung-Gong briskly nodded.

"I see…" If he had permission from _him_ , then it was out of his hands. That man's opinion was highly respected among every clan and if he believed what Sung-Gong was doing would not upset the balance, then who was he to question it?

"I understand. I'll speak with the elders of the Yunhonmoon to settle this matter. Those old buzzards are stubborn but I'll explain to them what you've told me. We won't interfere with your plans from now on"

A smile, if only faint appeared on Sung-Gong's face "That's appreciated. I've almost finished gathering the souls I've needed. Once that's done, I'll be out of your hair for good"

Sun-Oh chuckled. "I doubt that, somehow you always seem to find your way back here one way or another"

Sung-Gong turned around and began to head for the exit before the elder's voice caused him to stop.

"Sung-Gong, answer me this. What exactly drives you to take such risks such as angering both the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon?"

Silence befell the both of them as a chilling breeze filled the air. Suddenly, Sung-Gong looked over his shoulder and met the old man's powerful gaze with one of his own.

"Just a father trying to give his daughter the best life she can get"

With that, Sung-Gong's body vanished into thin air and the elder was left with many things on his mind.

* * *

 **[6:00 PM, Han Family Residence]**

Jee-Han's eyebrow's twitched. He was sitting cross legged on the floor in his room, hands tucked into his armpits as he viewed his skill window.

This was annoying.

 _Very_ annoying.

Since it was the weekend, he had decided to spend today organizing all of the skills he had created and collected so that he would know which ones to use during battle. That didn't go quite as planned for two specific reasons.

The first was that because he spent all last night playing games due to a new expansion pack, he had slept in all day and blown most of the day. This wasn't that bad but the next reason was what annoyed him the most.

Yesterday, he had gained five amazing new skills from the old man. Don't get him wrong, he was completely grateful for the skills that he accepted from the elder. The issue however was a more complicated case in his mind. It was simple; with the addition of those five he had _too_ many skills to remember.

If he were to go up against an enemy right now, what would he use first? Verbally shouting the skill was how it usually worked so he had to choose carefully.

He sighed.

"If I knew it would have come to this, I wouldn't have accepted all of them and only chose the most important ones"

As he gazed at all of his skills, his attention focused on **[Power Strike], [Blunt Weapon Mastery],** and **[Energy Bolt]**. By using these three skills, he had become confident enough to deal with any normal zombie. They still scared him shitless when they were grouped together but he now had enough courage not to run away as his first option.

His bat was more effective than using his bare hands so he looked at one of the first skills he created, [Rip]. He brought a hand to his chin, wondering if having too many skills clog up his window would prove to be a hassle for him. Deleting would make sense right? No point in keeping a skill you don't need or use.

"How would I delete a skill…?" He raced through his mind to think of a command before the realization of a simple phrase popped into his brain. He clicked the **[Rip** ] icon.

"Delete skill"

 **DING!**

 **The skill [Rip] has been selected for deletion.**

 **Would you like to delete this skill?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

" _Sweet!"_ His mind joyfully expressed before pressing confirm. Just like that, the icon that represented **[Rip** ] had now left Jee-Han's skills.

"Good, I'll no longer need that so I had to make some space. In any case, its time to test these Chunbu skills out in my own Illusion Barrier!"

He couldn't wait. He had never tried to use his Illusion Barrier to practice before so he felt really anxious.

He got up and put on a brown jacket that matched his black jeans and headed down stairs, passing his mother who requested him to purchase some vegetables for dinner. As a result, another quest appeared that instructed him to pick up some vegetables for dinner _again_. He was beginning to think Gaia loved his mother's cooking since most of the quests involved things like that. He sighed and reluctantly accepted, a few extra experience points were worth it.

 _30 minutes later..._

Jee-Han walked out of the grocery store with a white grocery bag in his hand, filled with the vegetables his mom wanted and some sour peaches. He was craving some sugar and damn it, he was going to have some sugar.

He looked around and saw no cars passing by and the streets void of any people before he smirked and raised his left hand into the air.

"ID Create!" His energy filled the air and an Illusion Barrier had been set up. His gaze moved all around the area as he noted the eerie silence that followed, an ominous feeling washing over him.

"Alright, where are those zombies?" He did a raffle in his head and the lucky winner was the martial arts technique he learned earlier. He still recalled what gramps had told him about fighting and scoffed at the idea. He knew he was no warrior but his gaming ability would prove its usefulness right here and right now. He'd show the old man who was right.

He had his guard up and looked around the empty city for any zombies but couldn't find any. He didn't understand, usually there would be a pack of them swarming around by now but there was nothing. Just empty vehicles and unpicked cans on the street.

In what he referred to as his "spicy sense", a spine tingling sensation shivered down his back and he swiftly spun around but saw no one. He could have sworn he felt as if something was licking him.

"Kekekeke…" The cackling sound of a child perked his ears up and he looked behind him, shrieking in terror at the sight.

Floating in front of him was a transparent figure that was wrapped from head to tea in a white robe that had the eye sockets and mouth cut out. All in all, it looked like a bad TV drama ghost.

"W-What the hell is that!?" He uncontrollably shouted, stumbling back a few feet to regain his sanity. His heart rate went up again and he smacked his chest with a hand, breathing in and out. He had to calm down and think things through.

He didn't know what had happened but this wasn't a zombie Illusion Barrier he was used too. He frantically looked around and saw several other spirits wandering throughout the town, appearing out of buildings and objects. They must have been hiding.

" _What's going on! I should have created a zombie Illusion Barrier, so why are there ghosts!?"_

The spirit started cackling again and reached its ghostly hand towards him.

"Whoa!" He staggered to his feet as he ran away and passed a corner, hiding behind it and panting heavily. Unlike his experience with zombies, ghosts were completely new to him. The same terrified feeling he got when he first saw the zombies were coming back and he was having trouble calming down. He felt so pathetic when he remembered how confident he was earlier.

"Wait…" He opened his skill window and clicked on the **[ID Create]** Icon.

 **[ID Create (Active) Lvl 2 EXP: 0.0 %]**

 **Currently available ID list:**

 **1\. Empty ID – monsters: none**

 **2\. Zombie ID – monsters: zombies**

 **3 Ghost ID – monsters: ghosts**

 **4\. Combined ID – monsters: zombies, ghosts**

Somehow, he had gained a level in his ID creating skills and was able to now summon ghosts. He didn't know when he had gained that level but he theorized that it could have levelled up instantly by using it a second time to create this dungeon. He was happy that it levelled up but annoyed that he created the wrong dungeon.

He began to calm down as he got to his feet and looked over the corner to see a bunch of ghosts just floating around aimlessly. They might not have been zombies but it couldn't hurt to try and take them on. Yea, they couldn't be that much stronger than zombies so taking them out shouldn't be an issue.

He activated both the [ **Chunbu Spirit Technique]** and [ **Chunbu Martial Arts Technique** ], the former increasing his STR, DEX, and VIT by 30 % and the latter raising his bare handed strike power and speed by the same amount. Quite the useful abilities to have when in need of a power up.

"Let's try it out!" He shouted and rushed one of the ghosts that had come close to the corner. He threw a fist at it, hoping to punch its lights out but only realized at _that_ moment he had forgot one important thing.

It was a ghost.

His fist flew right past it and he tumble to the ground with a thud. He staggered for a bit before noticing that the ghost was mocking him and cackling, annoying him as he rose to his feet.

" _Crap… in my excitement I totally forgot that normal attacks don't work on ghosts…_ " For someone who played a lot of RPG's, he felt pretty embarrassed for not knowing that.

He decided that he would use his [ **Energy Bolt** ] but before he could bring it out, his body went numb and he couldn't raise his arms.

" _W-What..!?_ " He didn't understand. His body felt as if it was paralyzed as he struggled to move his arm but it was no use. It wouldn't budge.

"Kekeke" He heard cackling coming from below him and he used all of his strength to face downward. His eyes widened in complete shock as he saw a new ghost popping out from his stomach, giving him a disgusting and terrifying grin that could turn grown men into babies.

" _When did it… shit!_ " His mind was racing on what to do next as he struggled to move. He realized that the ghosts that weren't paying him any attention before had taken note of him. They moved in closer towards him and began to sweat profusely at the eventual collision.

"Sta...tus!" Not only his arms and legs, but now his jaw had become paralyzed and he couldn't move or speak. This couldn't be happening.

His last command had been able to open up the status window and observed his empty MP bar and rapidly decreasing HP. The ghost must have been absorbing his MP the entire time and was now beginning to suck out his HP. He recovered only about 3 MP per second so there was no chance of it coming back before he was devoured by these freaks.

He cursed himself for being so careless and made his brain go into overdrive. He needed to think and think soon. He looked at his HP and he calculated that it would hit 0 in about sixty seconds.

The ghosts had almost made it to him and he tried to summon every ounce of strength he had to shout [ID Escape] but it was for naught. The [Paralysis] was too strong. Tears began to build up in his eyes at the prospect of being killed by a bunch of ghosts and he started desperately shouting in his mind.

" _Please! Someone, save me! Sun-Il! Sae-Young! Geezer! Mom! Dad! Anyone!"_ A tear drop dripped from one of his eyes and hit the floor when all of a sudden...

"Soul Blaze Purification!"

A torrent of flames erupted from the sky and engulfed the ghosts plaguing Jee-Han's body. Their cries and pains of anguish only lasted a fraction of a second before they disintegrated into nothingness.

A woman landed in front of Jee-Han who was wearing a school uniform identical to his and caught the weakened Jee-Han in her arms, gently lowering him to the ground.

She placed one of her hands onto his chest and closed her eyes. She concentrated her Ki and poured some of it into Jee-Han's body.

A few minutes later, his eyes flickered ever so slightly as he felt his HP rise back up and his body's aches and pains were mostly gone, even the paralysis. He finally opened his eyes completely and took in the figure of a beautiful red haired girl looking at him with a blank face.

"Shi…Yun?"

She nodded her head and helped him stand as he looked his body over and noted he was mostly fine. He checked his status window and saw that his HP was back to full and MP was half way full. What the hell happened?

"How…what…where…why are you here?" He didn't know where to start.

"I saw you walking from the grocery store and noticed you had created this Illusion Barrier. I was curious so I followed you in. I saw you surrounded by monsters with tears in your eyes, so I saved you".

She was rather blunt. Jee-Han felt his face redden in embarrassment when he remembered he had begun to cry like a baby. He quickly rubbed the tears that were still in his eyes and sniffed while looking down, unable to look her in the eye. It hurt his pride to know a woman like her had seen such an unsightly side of him.

"Do you feel alright?" she asked.

He weakly nodded "Y-Yea I'm fine. My body feels a bit weird but overall I feel pretty good. How did you heal me?" As if he already didn't know.

"Its a technique from my clan called Yunhon Soul Recovery. I'll leave it at that since you probably don't understand anything about using Ki".

Jee-Han tried to rebuke her but honestly, she was right. Though he had learned the fundamentals from the skill books, today had just proven how inexperienced he was at using them. Because of his carelessness, he was rendered utterely useless again and would have no doubt died if it hadn't been for her. He swallowed his spit at the thought and gritted his teeth at being so weak and helpless. He should have listened to the geezer!

Shi-Yun noticed his strange behavior and cocked her head to the side.

"Is something wrong?"

His gaze finally met hers and he swiftly avoided eye contact, denying anything was wrong. Looking her in the eye was still too embarrassing for him at the moment.

"Sorry that I got you involved with my mistake, I'm really grateful for your help"

"Don't mention it. You were just fortunate I was watching you leave the store. By the way, this has been bothering me for awhile now but why did you look scared of me when I first met you in class?"

" _Shit, so she did notice..."_ Jee-Han cursed in his mind. However, since she did save his life and all, he figured he could at least tell her that much.

"Well... who wouldn't be scared after seeing a girl fight a three headed monster and killer mantis as if she was a super hero?"

Shi-Yun had a bewildered expression and eyed him curiously. What in the world was he talking about?

"What do you mean?"

"Huh" Jee-Han looked up again, able to finally hold her gaze but still looked away from time to time.

"I said, what do you mean? How did you know I fought with Sung-Gong's summoned pets?"

"Oi... are you playing with me?" He was starting to get annoyed. Was she purposely forgetting the fact that they had met each other not even a week ago?

"Playing what? I don't understand what you're saying" She still had that same blank face she always had.

"Y-You don't recognize me from before we met in school?"

"No"

She didn't even hesitate.

" _C-Could this girl have horrible memory?"_ He absently wondered but made sure not to speak it out loud.

Jee-Han spent the next few minutes describing his first encounter with her and Sung-Gong. It took a few seconds before Shi-Yun narrowed her eyes as if she had remembered something.

"Oh. You were that helpless weakling that Sung-Gong took hostage"

Jee-Han fell to the ground in shame at her piercing words. They hurt, far more than any injury he had received thus far. He'd have that humiliation for the rest of his life.

"Speaking of Sung-Gong..." Her tone of voice seemed to exhibit more hostility than she had ever shown, causing Jee-Han to tense up a bit.

"Y-Yes?"

"What information do you have about him? What he is after and what does he want?"

An array of questions that came flooding in like a raging tidal wave. Jee-Han obviously had no idea about what Sung-Gong was ultimately after but this girl didn't seem like the type to take no for an answer. Worst case scenario, he could possibly be roasted into charcoal and he didn't want to be roasted. Being roasted wasn't fun, he imagined.

"Sorry...but I don't know..."

Her piercing gaze was still directed towards him and Jee-Han feared for his life before she sighed and returned the blank stare.

"I see... I'm sorry for asking that of you but since you have been entering his Illusion Barriers, I assumed you would have some information"

"D-Don't worry about it, hey I'm sure that if you ask Sun-Il he might know something! His family should be working on that case at the moment" Jee-Han wasn't really sure but it was better than nothing, right?

Shi-Yun had a bewildered expression.

"Sun-Il? Are you referring to the Chunbumoon?"

Jee-Han nodded.

She put a hand to her chin.

"I understand, I shall do that. Come to think of it, I remember that you did exhibit some sort of unnatural ability and escaped from that slime. Are you an ability user as well?"

Jee-Han felt his confidence returning and pumped his chest.

"Yup, I've become a natural ability user!"

Shi-Yun looked mildly impressed as she analyzed him from top to bottom. Despite being a weakling and dumb looking, she was curious as to what type of powers he had.

"Is that right... well, it doesn't matter. If you don't want to end up in those kinds of situations again, I'd suggest not trying to make any more Illusion Barriers"

Jee-Han flinched at her suggestion before adopting a frown.

"Sorry, but I already made a promise to a friend to get stronger to protect myself. I can't afford to stop making these barriers-

"You will die. You know that, right?"

Her cold and blunt words seemed like it cut through Jee-Han's soul as he stopped short. He looked down for a minute before chuckling, surprising Shi-Yun.

"I'm aware of that but my mind's still made up. Today was a good experience for me, I've discovered how truly foolish I really am. I'm grateful that you saved my life but I'll be sure to get stronger so that you won't see me crying all the time. I'll show you the power of the Gamer!" He pointed his finger at Shi-Yun who was slightly startled by his conviction.

"It's your funeral"

She turned around and vanished just like that, leaving Jee-Han annoyed, thankful, and confused all at once. So many conflicted emotions.

"Ah! Wait! At least let me thank you properly!"

It was too late; by the time he had closed his Illusion Barrier and was back in the real world, she was gone. He owed her big time. He only saw it for a second but those intense flames he felt before passing out definitely belonged to her. Ghosts couldn't be harmed by normal physical force but if you imbued your body with enough ki, then it became possible. He had realized that this is what the geezer had meant by learning combat experience. One fatal mistake on the battle field could result in death and that's what had almost happened today.

Jee-Han headed home and had plans on visiting the Chunbumoon Dojo first thing tomorrow morning.

He was going to learn martial arts; the right way.

* * *

 **A/N: Ah, what a nice chapter. So, Jee-Han learned some pretty nifty skills for future use and is now planning on learning martial arts properly from the Chunbumoon. Good for him, I always believed Jee-Han could become a decent martial artist. However, this doesn't mean he'll give up on magic. You'll see where he's headed in the coming chapters.**

 **So as some of you must have noticed, the divergence has begun and this is where we'll begin to see a different route from the canon where Jee-Han's character will develop differently. His relationship with Shi-Yun for instance has taken a definite change as Jee-Han now owes _her_ , instead of vice versa. I won't' speak about the romance just yet; you'll have to see that for yourself.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Apprentice Undead Hunter》 **  
** **Level:** 9

 **HP:** 470/470 **  
** **MP:** 380/380 **  
** **STR:** 19 (↑4 UP) **  
** **VIT:** 19 (↑4 UP) **  
** **DEX:** 15 (↑4 UP) **  
** **INT:** 18 (↑3 UP) **  
** **WIS:** 7 (↑1 UP) **  
** **LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 12 **  
** **Money:** ₩3000

* * *

 **《Skills》**

 **Offensive:  
** • Energy Bolt (Active) | Lvl: 3  
• Power Strike (Active) | Lvl: 3

 **Support:**  
• Observe (Active) | Lvl: 2  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lvl: 1  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active)| Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive) | Lvl: 1 **«NEW** **»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 3  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active) | Lvl: 2  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lvl: 1


	8. (Arc 1) Chapter 8

**A/N: 8 chapters into the story. Today's going to be a fun chapter.**

 **NinjaFang1331: Thanks as always for the support! I'd really appreciate it if you left more in your reviews, not that I'm not grateful for them but I love critique and I'd like to hear your thoughts on my good points and bad points.**

 **LordXeenTheGreat: I'm glad you enjoyed it. Like I said with the above, a little more substance in your review would be greatly appreciated.**

 **Skyozuru: Your reviews are always welcome Sky as you seem to really understand my story and always say helpful things. I love Shi-Yun as well and I hope I can write her better to make you fall in love with her even more. The Deleting Skills reveal is a method I came up with to stop useless and underused skills from swarming Jee-Han's repotoire and honestly, Rip is a pretty useless skill at the moment.**

 **Onward!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manhwa written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 8**

 **[10:00 AM, Chunbumoon Dojo** ]

"Hah!"

Jee-Han yelled out as he threw a straight left towards Sun-Il who dodged the blow by ducking. Sun-Il moved with lightning speed and delivered a palm strike to Jee-Han's stomach, making him tumble backwards. He fell to the ground with his legs spread out and hands on the grass, panting heavily as sweat dripped from his face.

"Shit...why is it so hard to get a hit!?" Jee-Han moaned.

Sun-Il chuckled before reaching a hand out to help him up.

"Dude, I've been doing this a lot longer than you have. I'm glad you decided to take it seriously but that won't mean you can turn into Bruce Lee overnight"

Jee-Han grunted before he grabbed his hand and rose to his feet.

Just like he promised yesterday, he had chosen to come here early in the morning to learn the basics of martial arts. He had to thank the geezer though, Sae-Young volunteered to teach him but Sun-Il had already been chosen. He acted disappointed to appease the girl's letdown but on the inside, he was doing cart wheels.

"Come on, let's run it again" Sun-Il stated as he took another stance, his legs spreading as he crouched down and had both his arms lay by his side.

"You asked for it!" Jee-Han agreed and the two went at it again.

Even while using the **[Chunbu Martial Arts Technique],** his speed and technique were at a novice level. The only thing the skill did was increase his attack power and attack speed; it didn't increase how skilled he was. In simple terms, he was faster and stronger but still sucked. As such, here he was spending over an hour sparring against an experienced martial artist.

After a few more punches and kicks, a notification promptly presented itself.

 **A skill has been created through a special action!**

 **You've obtained the skill "Unarmed Combat Mastery" through continuous bare-handed sparring.**

"Sweet!" Jee-Han exclaimed as he took a second to stop sparring against his buddy and relished in the new skill. It seemed as if he was able to create a skill from another skill by simply training it. Whereas the **[Chunbu Martial Arts Technique]** was an active skill that allowed Jee-Han to increase his martial arts capability from activating it, [ **Unarmed Combat Mastery** ] was a passive that would _always_ be in effect. With enough grinding, the journey to become "Bruce Lee: The Second Coming" was now possible.

Sun-Il had noticed the geek's abrupt pause in training and raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

Jee-Han shook his head. "Nothing, just got another skill. I'll explain later, let's keep going!" He rushed in to restart his sparring session as Sun-Il braced himself. While Jee-Han was sparring, it occured to him that this was a good time to ask about the current situation going on between Sung-Gong and Shi-Yun's clan.

"Say Sun-Il, do you know what Sung-Gong is after?" Jee-han asked, throwing an uppercut.

"Nope. The only one's who'd know that are gramp's or the elders"" Sun-Il replied as he smoothly dodged the strike.

Jee-Han attempted a round house kick. "Do you think he's a bad guy?"

Sun-Il blocked it with both of his arms and smiled "Hard to say. He may have put me in the hospital but it was provoked so he can't really be blamed for it. Plus, the option of killing me was available but he didn't. In my eyes, he's not a bad dude" He let go of Jee-Han's leg and did a back flip, landing gracefully on the ground.

"That's what he was saying too. I guess it depends on who's perspective you ask...Oh wait! I almost forgot to ask, could you tell me about the other clans in Seoul?"

Sun-Il raised an eyebrow. He decided to take a break from sparring to answer the question.

"Why do you want to know that?"

Jee-Han relaxed his body and stretched his arms.

"It turns out that I don't know jack shit about anything going on between your clans. I don't want to make the same mistake like Sung-Gong did and violate any laws or agreements. Shouldn't I at least be aware of the circumstances?"

Hearing that, a warm smile crept onto Sun-Il. The stubborn geek was finally starting to learn.

"I see. Alright, I'll tell ya. There aren't many clans in Seoul that are really independent enough to mention. The only ones you need to know of are our Chunbumoon and the Yunhonmoon. The Existence Eater also counts as well but he's not a clan, he's just a single person"

"Are you serious!?" Jee-Han was stunned. The thought of a single man being the equivalent to an entire clan of martial artists was frightening.

"That's right, we've never seen or met him but rumor has it he was a high school drop out with amazing potential. He's at a level that makes us look like babies, even the old man"

Jee-Han swallowed his spit. If the geezer who was stronger than Sun-Il who was at a level that could break stone pillars with his arms easily, how ridiculously powerful was this Existence Eater?

"In any case, the Chunbumoon, Yunhonmoon, and Existence Eater regulate the Seoul Region together. All of the other clans haver either fallen under our protection or have tried to strike out on their own. Of course, the latter usually ends with that clan being terminated"

Jee-Han gulped at the thought.

"W-What about me? I'm not in any of those categories so will I be wiped out?"

Sun-Il could hear the fear in his voice and chuckled "Relax man, you're not a threat to anyone so you don't have to worry about anyone coming after you. Though, I can't say that won't stop certain others..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Sun-Il just shook his head.

"Nothing, it's not important. Anyway, your martial arts have become pretty decent. I'm actually surprised, is it because of your gaming ability?"

Jee-Han nodded vigorously as he opened his status window. He saw that his **[Chunbu Martial Arts Technique]** had reached level 3 and explained it to Sun-Il who was impressed.

"Impressive right? I'm sure it'll slow down later but once I get it past level 10, I'm sure I can use it more effectively"

"Makes sense, that's how it works in games" Thanks to Jee-Han, Sun-Il had knowledge of how games work and gamer terms so him being his instructor was perfect. Just another reason why Jee-Han didn't want Sae-Young as his teacher, she was not only brutally violent but also clueless when it came to games.

"Do you think its good enough to take out ghosts?"

Jee-Han had to know. After what he went through yesterday, he wanted to make absolutely sure he could eradicate any type of ghosts. **[Energy Bolt]** may have worked but he couldn't just rely on that, as yesterday's experience told him that if he screwed up once it was over. If he could work on his speed and martial arts then he was sure he could kill the ghosts as swiftly as Shi-Yun did.

"You mean like the ones that almost killed you yesterday? I doubt it, it requires intense concentration and focus to channel ki into your body enough to hit spirits. Of course, anyone in the clan can do it but for a beginner like you, it would take some more time" He wasn't being harsh, he was speaking the truth. After Jee-Han had told him about the incident, Sun-Il cursed himself for not being there but was resolved to teach Jee-Han even more. At the rate Jee-Han was getting into trouble, he could seriously die if he wasn't around. That was _not_ going to happen.

"I see..." Jee-Han felt a little glum for finding that out but decided not to let it bring him down. There would always be a next time to be a ghost buster.

"Hey, Jee-Han" Sun-Il began as Jee-Han looked over at him.

"Not that I have anything against you learning martial arts but wouldn't a weapon be better suited for killing ghosts?"

Jee-Han blinked "Huh? Aren't ghosts immune to weapons as well?"

Sun-Il nodded.

"Yes, but you can channel your Ki into a weapon to make it an **[Enchanted Weapon].** By doing that, you can strike anything whether it be astral or physical".

"Enchanted Weapons eh..." Jee-Han brought a hand to his chin. True, he _was_ in the market to replace his old worn out bat. The poor thing had been rusted out by killing a few too many zombies, poor Samantha. Yes, he named his bat Samantha. In any case, he was planning on trading it in but he had no idea in this day and age where he could actually purchase a sword or a spear. Who would even sell these things?

"Alright! What do you have to offer?" His mind was made up, he'd practice martial arts on the side and learn how to use weapons more effectively.

Sun-Il grinned "The sky's the limit man, but I'd recommend using a sword. They're a bit difficult to master but they're swift, powerful, and honestly, who wouldn't want to look badass carrying one around?"

Jee-Han nodded in agreement. This man spoke the truth.

"Is there anything else you have? I'd like the sword but I want to see some variety"

"Well, we also got spears, daggers, and bows"

"Give me all of those!"

Sun-Il sported an baffled look, wondering why the greedy boy wanted more than one weapon. He sighed in defeat and knew by the star struck look in Jee-Han's eyes he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Hold on a second"

Sun-Il returned to the house and after a few minutes of digging through the weaponry, found what he was looking for. Jee-Han was dazed to say the least when Sun-Il had came back with a fancy looking sword in his hand. Curiosity getting the better of him, he used **[Observe]**.

 **[Chunbu Sword – Rank: Special]**

 **A long sword infused with Chunbu jingi made by the Chunbumoon. Increases attack by 40 % when Chunb Spirit Technique and Chunbu Sword Technique is used.**

"T-This is..." His hands began to tremble while he held the sword horizontally. Suddenly, Jee-Han held the blade in the air and cried over its awesomeness, ignoring the bizarre look coming from Sun-Il. Jee-Han explained to him that his bat had become almost completely unusable after all the grinding he did and the stats on the sword were much better. In essence, he felt like he traded in a gun for a rocket launcher.

Sun-Il clapped his hands.

"I'm glad you like it, so now let's try practicing with it"

Jee-Han smiled and tightened his grip on the sword "Alright!"

And so, Jee-Han swung the sword downward several times as Sun-Il supervised him. He tried using several techniques from the **[Chunbu Sword Technique]** skill he acquired but they all came out pretty weak. It was a lot harder than he thought due to his lack of experience using Inner Ki and he slashed the sword dozens of times until...

 **A skill has been created through a special action!**

 **You've obtained the skill "Sword Mastery" through continuous sword training.**

"Yes!" Just the skill he had been hoping for. Now with this, no matter what type of sword he received in the future, he'd be able to wield it with high proficiency. All it required was some grinding.

"Did it work?" Sun-Il asked.

"Yup, I've got the skill for sword mastery now. Let's keep grinding!"

Sun-Il watched his friend swing the sword dozens of times and had a reassuring smile on his face. He wouldn't lie; he had half expected his friend to give up not long after he had started training. Jee-Han was no warrior; calling him a lazy slacker would have been more appropriate. And yet, here he was practicing swordsmanship with everything he had. When he had come to the dojo early in the morning, he was taken back a bit by the determined look in his eyes. Obviously, almost dying again must have been the root of the cause.

Sun-Il put a hand to his chin as he thought about the girl Jee-Han had mentioned. From what he knew, there was a girl around his age that the Yunhonmoon had bragged about, calling her their prodigy. According to his grandfather, what took decades of intense training for Yunhonmoon's top members to master, the girl had already learned in less than half the time. If he were to compare her status to that of his own, they'd be identical. He would be returning back to school in a couple of days so he was anxious to see how a meeting between them would go.

"Oi, Sun-Il! Are you even paying attention!"

Jee-Han's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and Sun-Il sported his usual friendly smile.

"Sorry about that. Now, raise your left hip more and adjust your stance. Don't forget to breath at the moment of your swing!"

"Right!"

The two continued their training for the rest of the morning and Jee-Han was able to increase not only [ **Sword Mastery]** 's and [ **Chunbu Sword Technique]'** levels but he also gained some stat points in STR for swinging a heavy object several times. Being able to gain stat points other than by leveling up was a crucial piece of information and Jee-Han was going to test it out more later. At the rate he was going at, paying back those ghosts from earlier would be a snap!

* * *

[ **8:25 AM, Yeogang High School]**

Sliding the classroom door open, Sun-Il walked inside with Jee-Han tailing him from behind, shadows under his eyes. He was exhausted, not only from being forced to wake up early _again_ because of Sun-Il but also because he forgot to finish his assignment last night. With all of the crazy stuff happening in his life, he had completely skipped doing homework and was chewed out by his mother by it.

Speaking of his mother, the thought of her being involved in the Abyss weighed heavily on his mind. He could understand the elder considering he was the leader of a bunch of martial arts monsters, but his mom? Surely she couldn't be some sort of mega badass behind his back? The hidden levels under her name were saying otherwise.

"What are you spacing out for?" Sun-Il asked, surprising Jee-Han who was standing in between the door.

He sighed "It's nothing, let's just get to our seats. I'm tired as hell and I want to lay down" He groaned while he slumped forward to sit down, having a chuckling Sun-Il behind him patting his back.

Before the two even got to their seats, they were stopped half way by the appearance of a familiar face.

"Han Jee Han. Shin Sun-Il. I'd like to speak with you two" Shi-Yun who had her arms crossed spoke.

Jee-Han's fatigue seemed to disappear as he came face to face with the girl who saved his life. In fact, you could even say he sprang back to life.

"W-What's up Shi-Yun?" He greeted with her with a genuine smile.

Shi-Yun turned to face him and raised an eyebrow, staring at him which made him feel incredibly nervous. Having a beautiful girl look at you with such a piercing gaze would do that to most men.

"You're the Chunbumoon's heir?" She completely ignored Jee-Han, causing him to slump down. He knew he wasn't as famous as Sun-Il but that was just rude!

Sun-Il produced a foxy smile, not intimidated in the slightest by the woman "That's me. I assume that you're Yunhonmoon's prodigy?"

"I have no interest in such titles. You can just refer to me as your classmate, Kwon Shi-Yun. It's a pleasure to finally meet you" She bowed, which was met with puzzled looks from the boys. They thought she was surprisingly well mannered for someone that belonged to a rival clan.

He didn't want to come off as a douche so Sun-Il decided to give her a proper greeting.

"The pleasure's mine, I'm Shin Sun-Il. Please, call me Sun-Il. I've been wanting to meet you ever since my friend here told me you saved his life" He pointed to Jee-Han who tensed up at the calling.

Shi-Yun's eyes switched over to Jee-Han's again who began to sweat at the amber eyes now fixated on him. He wouldn't deny that he was a happy that Shi-Yun was now paying attention to him, but it was still damn scary!

"I remember you. I hope you have been doing well"

"T-Thank you, my body's been fine ever since you healed me" He cursed in his mind that he just couldn't be calm when around girls.

She didn't even crack a smile at his comment and then switched her attention back to Sun-Il. He knew she wasn't trying to be mean but damn, she really needed to learn how to read the mood. At least, according to him.

"You...tell me what you know about Sung-Gong and his plans"

Both Sun-Il and Shi-Yun were moderately surprised by the question.

"I heard he was the chemistry teacher. What would you make think that we know anything about him?" Sun-Il was still wearing his smile but it seemed to be a forced one as opposed to his natural one.

"Your friend told me if I wanted to know more about him, I'd have to ask you and you clan. So that's what I'm doing"

Crap.

Sun-Il slowly turned around and glared at Jee-Han who shivered and broke out in a cold sweat. He knew that look. He had seen it many times and was terrified of it. He screwed up, he didn't realize that it wasn't supposed to be something he should tell other people.

"Jee-Han..."

"W-W-Well you see, I-I uh..." He was staggering to come up with a justified reason. He couldn't, it was that hard.

Sun-Il heaved a heavy sigh and scratched the back of his head.

"Look, despite what this idiot over here told you, I don't have any useful information to give you regarding Sung-Gong. He's a mystery to our clan just as he is to yours"

Shi-Yun looked disappointed at the unsuccessful result and also sighed.

"I understand. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble" she bowed again before turning around and walked back to her seat.

Jee-Han watched her go before wincing at the flick to the forehead Sun-Il gave him.

"O-Ow! What was that for!"

Sun-Il walked back to his seat and put his elbow on the desk to support his chin.

"It's what you get for blabbing. You're not supposed to tell _anyone_ about Sung-Gong, _especially_ her who clearly holds a grudge against him. Use your head a little, stupid Jee-Han"

Jee-Han whimpered before he nodded in understanding and sat down. Even if he was wrong, he still thought Sun-Il was being unfair. It's not as if he had any good information to give her so what was the problem?

Their chemistry teacher, Sung-Gong finally arrived as the door slide open and he walked to the front of the class. Instantly, Jee-Han and Sun-Il could sense a rising heat emitting from behind them and they turned around to see Shi-Yun glaring daggers at him

Sun-Il glanced over at Jee-Han "H-Has this happened every time?"

Jee-Han weakly nodded.

"Yea... every...time" Jee-Han lamented as he looked out the window. He didn't want to focus on Sung-Gong at the moment; a bigger concern was plaguing him.

Catching up to Sun-Il was a more prominent issue to him. He had checked his level earlier before coming to school and discovered that he had reached level 29 not too long ago. Even as he was training him, Sun-Il was still progressing and it made him feel as if he was standing still.

He needed to level up so he could get stronger. Killing zombies on his own again would work but would it be enough? His EXP would eventually start to slow down the higher he got if the zombies were the same strength they always were. It was like in RPG's where after grinding in one area for long periods of time, the EXP you would receive from the monsters would get smaller and smaller. Eventually, it would get so small that you would have no choice but to move on to a bigger area and repeat the process.

Was that it? Did he need to find a larger area to level up? Aside from the ghosts and zombies around his level, he didn't know any other areas to help him level. Maybe Sun-Il knew of a place since his level surely couldn't have been obtained just by training himself? It was a thought to consider.

Jee-Han faintly remembered how he was lucky enough to find someone willing to power level him in an old MMORPG he played. Because of him, he was able to level up tremendously and didn't have to waste time in the baby levels like the other new players.

Why couldn't his gamer ability allow him to do that? He had all the requirements too, what a shame.

"Ah...what a shame..." he sighed as he relinquished the thought. If only he could...

Wait.

"Holy crap, that's it!" He shouted all of a sudden, altering everyone in the class to his attention.

"Do you need to use the bathroom, Han Jee-Han?" Sung-Gong asked as he had turned around from the chalkboard.

Jee-Han's face reddened like a cherry in embarrassment and he looked athis best friend who was holding in a laugh. He shot a quick glance behind him and saw that Shi-Yun had her head on the desk, not even paying attention. For Jee-Han, this was much better. Having her look at him with a blank face would have been far worse.

"N-No sir..." He slowly returned to his seat and faced downwards.

"You would do well to remember that this is a classroom, not a cafeteria" He adjusted his glasses and continued with the lesson.

" _You cheeky bastard_..." He growled mentally.

He would have felt worse but after discovering a method that could pay off in spades, his spirits were fired up.

* * *

"Are you serious about this?"

"Heh, trust me. This'll work for sure, I'm the Gamer remember" Jee-Han replied.

The two of them were standing in an Illusion Barrier, wearing casual clothing and staring at a large gathered group of zombies that crawled through the streets. The sun had already long set and the moon was now hovering over the city streets.

After class had ended, Jee-Han suggested the idea of forming a party; a concept not new to Sun-Il. It basically meant that instead of leveling on your own, you would team up with one or more people. Usually, it would be used when it was difficult to defeat a certain group of enemies on your own but this time, it'd be different.

Power Leveling.

A very common thing to find in MMO's where a higher leveled character would allow a weaker character to join his party and would defeat strong enemies, sharing the exp between them. It was a very useful thing to have for veteran players who made new accounts and didn't want to go through the annoying process of leveling normally.

"I thought you said you wanted to learn martial arts?"

Jee-Han side eyed him.

"Of course I do, but I realized that leveling normally just wasn't going to cut it. If I plan on helping you guys out, I'll need to raise my level as quickly as I can".

Sun-Il was touched as he smiled warmly at him. Though it wasn't as if his clan was preparing for some sort of big war, he really appreciated the amount of effort Jee-Han was putting in. I guess it only showed that you couldn't judge a book by its cover.

Jee-Han grinned as he yelled "[Create Party]!"

 **«DING!»**

 **You've created a party.**

 **What would you like to name your party?**

"Hey, it worked!" He was practically jumping for joy. If this party feature worked, then who knows how many other features his gaming ability had?

 **Would you like "Hey, it worked!" to be your party name?**

" _Hell no!_ " He looked at the system with questioning eyes. Gaia was at it again, trolling him

"What's wrong?" Sun-Il asked, unable to see what was going on.

Jee-Han sighed "Nothing, just choosing a name for the party. You got any suggestions?"

Sun-Il raised a hand to his chin and thought he had a good one in mind.

"Call it The Magnificent Sun-Il and his side kick Jee-Han"

"Rejected"

Sun-Il pouted and crossed his arms. That was a good name, the jerk.

Moments later, a devilish smirk appeared on Jee-Han's face as he thought of a brilliant name.

"Let's ride on Sun-Il"

 **Would you like "Let's ride on Sun-Il" to be your party name?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Refuse (N)**

He pressed confirm, earning Sun-Il's annoyance at the ridiculous name. If anyone else had heard it, there would have been a _grave_ misunderstanding that Sun-Il wanted to avoid at all costs. But hey, it's wasn't as if his first suggestion was any better.

"Whatever, let's just get this thing started. So, how will you invite me?"

"Simple, check it out. [Invite Sun-Il to Party]!"

 **You've been invited to the "Let's ride on Sun-Il" Party.**

 **Would you like to accept?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

Sun-Il looked down at the blue notification for a brief second before his eyes popped out of they're sockets. He couldn't believe it, he just received a party invitation! He wasn't even _in_ a game! Just what kind of power did Jee-Han have!

"N-No way..."

Feeling almighty, Jee-Han puffed his chest out.

"Isn't my ability amazing? I told you it would work! Now you can see it , right?"

Sun-Il nodded his head as he continued to have his mouth gaping open. The shock was simply too much for him.

"Oi, earth to Sun-Il. Confirm it already!"

He snapped out of it and listened to his friend, pressing the "Confirm" button to join the party. He looked over towards Jee-Han and saw the status over his head.

 **«Let's Ride On Sun-Il»**

 **«** **The Gamer** **»**

 **Level 9 Han Jee Han**

"O-Oi...I see your stats..." He had trouble making sense of the situation. Joining a "party" was strange enough but now he was seeing stats? Was this what Jee-Han saw every single day?

"You see my stats? Hmm...I guess when people are invited to my party, some of the functions of my gamer ability get passed to them" He had just made quite the discovery.

"I didn't actually believe your ability could do things like these..."

"Heh, believe it. Whoa, looks like we got company!" He shouted and both he and Sun-Il turned spun around to face the approaching zombies. A male zombie reached its hand out to attack Jee-Han and just before he could react, Sun-Il intercepted him down below and landed a upward kick. The zombie flew threw the air as it was evaporating from the damage it recieved. It didn't even reach the ground.

" _F-Fast..._ " Jee-Han was memorized by his friend's speed while Sun-Il slowly dropped his stretched out leg and chuckled.

"These zombies don't seem that tough..." His attitude from earlier was completely gone.

"W-Weren't you just freaking out not too long ago?" Jee-Han asked.

Sun-Il raised an eye brow.

"Huh? Oh you mean that, well yea it was surprising but I got over it. I was just taken back for a bit, your ability is just so strange after all"

Jee-Han snorted. Amazing was more like it.

"Anyway, how's this power leveling thing going to work? Am I just going to kill these zombies for you?"

Jee-Han nodded.

"Yup, if I'm right you'll be able to easily dispatch these things and I'll rack in all the experience. It's genius!" He laughed manically as Sun-Il shot him a blank stare.

"But how do you know we'll be getting equal experience?"

Jee-Han stopped laughing and opened up the party settings window. He saw several interesting tabs like **[Promote to Leader]** and **[Kick Member]** but the one he looking for was **[EXP Distribution]**. He pressed on it and it gave him the option of setting it to either **[Equal Distribution]** or **[Individual]**. Obviously, he clicked the former.

 **DING!**

 **Equal Distribution is not possible if your level difference is greater than 10.**

Son of a bitch.

"Damn it!" He moaned as his dreams of power leveling were shot down. Gaia came through for him not too long ago but was now preventing him from leveling up. Was she just playing some sick game with him!?

Sun-Il was confused and asked the obvious "What's wrong?"

"Says we can't share EXP if our levels are greater than 10. At the moment, your 20 levels higher than me so this power leveling is a bust". He sighed; what a waste of a trip.

"That sucks but there's nothing we can do about it. All you have to do is just level up to 19 and we'll be good, right?"

Jee-Han had an annoyed look on his face. The whole point of this trip was to power level him _to_ reach closer to Sun-Il's level. Doing it by himself would defeat the entire point...but it wasn't like there were any other options.

"Fine, I suppose I should have expected this. I'll just take my frustrations out on these damn zombies!" He reached into his inventory and pulled out the **[Chunbu Sword]** he had stored, holding it with both arms.

"Remember what I taught you this morning" Sun-Il instructed as he decided to sit on top of one of the walls and observe. This would be good.

"Die!" Jee-Han first activated the [ **Chunbu Spirit Technique]** then the **[Chunbu Sword Technique** ] to maximize his sword damage. He lunged forward and swung his sword horizontally at a female zombie hanging by a street poll. She never saw it coming and was sliced in half, as the flesh of her body fell to the ground.

" _Gross!_ " Jee-Han complained as he jumped back a bit. Being able to one shot these things without even using [ **Power Strike** ] was a definite sign that his attack power had gone through the rough. A villainous smirk appeared on his face as he looked for his next target. He knew the zombies hadn't done anything wrong to deserve their fates but he didn't give a crap. _Someone_ was going to pay for making this trip more difficult.

"Alright, who's next!?" He went for the next one and it fell just as easily as the first, netting him more experience.

Sun-Il watched Jee-Han from afar, observing his friend swing his sword like a mad man and made some mental notes on what to critique him about later. Though he was doing well, he still lacked proper technique and was only succeeding because his enemies were utterly incompetent. Any intelligent fighter could have easily disarmed Jee-Han by now. However, this was a good experience for him as Jee-Han needed to face more battles to get accustomed to fighting.

One by one, Jee-Han felt himself becoming invigorated by the feeling of chopping down zombies. His arms were beginning to get a bit tired but he could ignore that, the feeling of defeating the zombies was too great. Was fighting supposed to feel like this? Perhaps this is what Sun-Il loved about it, he wondered.

An hour had gone by and Jee-Han was panting heavily. He had cleared every zombie within the vicinity and checked his status window. He had gained five levels and was now level 14, with 37 free stat points to spend. All that running around and striking had also given him some extra STR and VIT, a very successful hunt indeed. This wasn't even mentioning the extra INT points Jee-Han had gained during class when the devil teacher Sung-Gong had practically forced him to hit the books the entire time.

The trip wasn't a wasteful opportunity after all. The stat points he had available were still an issue though, since he wasn't sure what exactly to place them into. If he could gain normal stat points by doing every day activities, then he needed to try and map out which stats would be the hardest to level.

"Excellent job, I'm assuming your level went up?" Sun-Il was clapping from sitting on top of the walls and jumped off.

" _This bastard was enjoying the view the whole time..._ " Jee-Han mentally gripped, wiping away some sweat on his head.

"Yea, I'm level 14 now. Pretty good progress if you ask me" Though he said that, the monsters he was killing up to now were no longer giving him enough experience. Even killing hundreds of them at this point wouldn't level him up.

"I suppose. Killing these things clearly won't be enough to level up to my level though. You'll need something stronger"

"Ain't that the truth... wait, what about the ghosts? They're levels were slightly bigger than these zombies. You think that could work?"

"Don't ask me, I've never fought those ghosts before so I wouldn't know. I was going to suggest you come over to the Illusion Barrier we have at our place".

Huh?

"W-Wait just a second, what Illusion Barrier?"

"Our family purchased a built in Illusion Barrier near the dojo. I've been using it to train all the time".

"Seriously!? Why didn't you say that earlier!?" He couldn't believe Sun-Il, hiding such useful information.

"Must have slipped my mind. Sorry" He stuck his tongue out in an apologetic manner as Jee-Han sighed in contempt.

"Anyway, shall we go? You can come train over at the other Illusion Barrier tomorrow".

Still lamenting, Jee-Han agreed.

"Alright... [ID Escape]!" he shouted to escape from the Illusion Barrier but what happened next wasn't what he expected.

 **«You cannot escape from this area»**

"Wha..!?" Jee-Han didn't understand. Why couldn't he escape the area? The same thing happened over at the Chunbumoon area when he met Sae-Young. Just what the hell was the problem?

"Sun-Il, we got a problem! It's not letting me escape the Illusion Barrier...huh? What's wrong?" Jee-Han started to ask before noticing that Sun-Il wasn't even paying attention to him.

"I..I think that's the cause" Sun-Il pointed his finger towards an open city block and Jee-Han turned around, only wishing seconds later that he really hadn't.

In the center of the wide streets were a bunch of zombies. He didn't know where they had come from but that was the last thing on his mind. They appeared to be joining together and melting their bodies onto one another, a very grotesque image.

"W-What in the hell..." Jee-Han barely managed out of his mouth as he continued watching.

The zombies kept piling on top of one another until something was being made from the disgusting substance. It appeared to be the head of a huge monster, its face and torso being constructed from the lesser zombies while the lower half was still being made.

"What are they doing?" It almost looked like the zombies were trying to merge with one another to create a bigger one.

"I-I don't know but we shouldn't stick around to find out!" Jee-Han frantically yelled and tried to use [ **ID Escape]** once more. Alas, it yielded no results and he cursed his luck. He had resolved not to run away again but this time he couldn't help it; if any normal person saw that their first instinct would be to run like hell.

"Jee-Han, it's no use. You should already know that special Illusion Barriers cannot be escaped unless certain conditions are met. In this case..."

They both stared at the towering titan that had finally completed its transformation. It was a bare skinned purple monstrosity that took the form of a naked human and was over twenty meters tall. It didn't look very intelligent, dumb even and had a presence that indicated it relied on pure instinct.

Jee-Han gulped.

"We've got to take that thing down, eh?" He somehow knew it would come to this.

"So, what's the plan?" Sun-Il asked as he took one of his signature stances and held a surprisingly innocent smile. Jee-Han looked over at him and could have sworn Sun-Il was enjoying the moment. Seriously?

"W-Well, let me check it out first. [Observe]!" He shouted, bringing up the monster's stats.

 **Legion Zombie Lvl 34**

 **HP: 15200 (15200) | MP: 1200**

 **Assembly of zombies full of resentment. When a large amount of zombies feel threatened due to mass hunting, they will merge into a Legion Zombie. It has no aptitude for magic but has considerable strength and stamina. By the way, it's very slow.**

Jee-Han informed Sun-Il of the odd but humorous stats and he nodded.

"So, we got a brute on our hands. That's good, if he's slow we can use that to our advantage. Follow my lead, alright?" .

Jee-Han hesitantly nodded as he held the grip on his sword. Honestly, he was amazed at how confident Sun-Il was and he didn't look nervous or scared in the slightest. He guessed that being the heir to the Chunbumoon was more than just being strong, it required him to possess the courage to remain calm and clear in these kind of situations.

" _Come on Jee-Han! This is what you've been training for!_ " Jee-Han mentally pumped himself up and glared at the beast. By his sword tonight, that titan was going to taste his steel.

"Grahhhhhh!" The legion zombie roared, producing a high pitched squeal that made Jee-Han flinch. The monster then picked up on the two of them started walking in their direction. It had huge bug eyes that looked like they would pop at any given minute.

"It's coming! Dodge!" Sun-Il shouted and jumped away. Jee-Han was startled by the sudden command and was almost trampled as the legion zombie raised its foot to squish him. He jumped forward and rolled to safety while screaming, thanking Sun-Il in his mind for the warning.

"Now Jee-Han, hit its legs!" Sun-Il ordered from standing on the roof of a building.

"R-Right!" Jee-Han regained his stance and rushed in, activating his sword skills and slashing at the monster's leg. It barely even made a dent as he felt the vibration of his sword rattle his hands and he stumbled back.

'S-Shit, its skin is so tough!" He cursed. It felt like he was hitting a metal wall. He ran away to gain some distance and hid between an alley way nearby, hoping to catch his breath.

The legion zombie turned its body around and looked for the boy that was stupid enough to try harming it. It found him lying in an alley way and reached its gigantic hand towards the unsuspecting fool.

"I-I wonder how Sun-Il is do-agh!" Jee-Han shrieked as he saw the shadow of the zombie's hand above him and before he could escape, the zombie had grabbed him.

"Fuck! Let go! Let go!" He squirmed relentlessly as the zombie had a grasp on him. The legion zombie was about to crush him in its arms before the shadow of Sun-Il in the air altered its attention behind him.

"Your opponent is right here!" Using inner ki to augment his body, Sun-Il landed a devastating backward kick on the zombie's neck. It cried in agony as its grip on Jee-Han loosened and Sun-Il took the chance to jump off its back and catch the falling boy at the last second. He landed on the ground and swiftly ran as fast as he could from the area. He found a good location to hide when he saw a house and made his way to the backyard, hiding behind the fence. When the coast was clear, he gently placed Jee-Han against the fence while deactivating his Inner Ki. It took alot of out him to use constantly and he would need it for later.

Jee-Han had a pitiful look on his face "Sun-Il...sorry. I got caught so easily and would have been dead without you..." He felt ashamed. He made a promise to protect Sun-Il and here he was being saved every god damn time. It was pathetic.

"Jee-Han...this isn't going to work" Sun-Il said out of the blue with a determined glare on his face, shocking Jee-Han.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I can't fight and protect you at the same time. I thought you were ready for martial arts but you clearly lack the fighting instinct to be a warrior. I'm not saying you shouldn't practice but I don't believe your cut out to be a front line fighter. Don't you agree?"

His words were not wrong; in fact they might have been the undeniable truth. Being a martial artist and being a warrior were two completely different things. He wasn't like Sun-Il, he didn't love fighting. He only fought to survive, which was fundamentally different than what Sun-Il was.

"But...what can I do? I wanted to learn how to fight to help you...how can I help you now? What good is this broken gaming ability if I can't even use it properly in battle!"

"But you _can_ , Jee-Han. You're just not seeing it yet"

Jee-Han blinked in confusion "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Sun-Il smiled reassuringly and bent down, patting his best friend on the shoulder.

"You're going to be my support"

* * *

 **A/N: Interesting chapter, wouldn't you all agree? Jee-Han's decision to become a front line martial artist or a support mage, we'll be seeing that next chapter. Tell me what you guys thought of this new scene, I mixed up the order from canon and just used the best sections.**

 **This is it folks, the turning point for Jee-Han. Whether he chooses to be a warrior or a magician (or even a hybrid), it will be decided next chapter.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Apprentice Undead Hunter》 **  
** **Level:** 14 (↑5 UP)

 **HP:** 790/790 **  
** **MP:** 630/630 **  
** **STR:** 25 (↑6 UP) **  
** **VIT:** 25 (↑6 UP) **  
** **DEX:** 20 (↑5 UP) **  
** **INT:** 22 (↑4 UP) **  
** **WIS:** 7 **  
****LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 37 **  
** **Money:** ₩3000

* * *

 **《Skills》  
**  
 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 3  
• Power Strike (Active)| Lv: 3

 **Support:  
** • Observe (Active) | Lv: 4 **«** **↑2 UP** **»**  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 2 **«** **↑1 UP** **»**  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3 **«** **↑2 UP** **»**  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3 **«** **↑2 UP** **»**  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3 **«** **↑2 UP** **»**  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 2 **«** **↑1 UP** **»**  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive) | Lvl: 3 **«** **↑2 UP** **»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 3  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 3 **«NEW** **»**  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 3 **«NEW** **»**

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active) | Lv: 2  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 1


	9. (Arc 1) Chapter 9

**A/N: (Bows) Please forgive me for not updating for so long, I've been extremely busy with school and work and I haven't had much time to work on this story. I won't go into detail since it's not something that I want to share. So, the chapter everyone has been waiting for where Jee-Han will choose his path from now on is here!**

 **As an apology, I'll be updating the next three chapters over the weekend to make up for lost time. Afterwards, I'll be continuing the regular schedule where I'll space it out every week or so.**

 **Williams1996:** **Thanks alot! I really appreciate the praise.**

 **xArtehx: Haha, a vote would be a fun idea but it'd get out of hand really quickly. It seems everyone really wants him to be a Hybrid.**

 **EmbraceEveryDream** **: Thanks! I'm glad someone else is following my train of thought regarding the Gamer's Mind passive.**

 **Onward!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 9**

"You're going to be my support"

A feeling of bewilderment came over Jee-Han as he stared at his childhood friend.

"Huh?"

Sun-Il frowned at his response.

"Clean the gunk out of your ears, your going to back me up against that walking pile of bravado"

"B-But what does that mean? How am I supposed to back you up?"

Sun-Il gave a hardened stare "Surely you must have a long distance range spell, right?"

Jee-Han thought about it before recalling the first spell he had created that fit Sun-Il's description.

"W-Well yea I've got a skill like that. Its called『 **Energy Bolt** 』, but it's too weak to use against big foot over there"

Jee-Han was able to make that assumption based on his previous encounters with the zombies. While the skill had enough firepower to knock them over, the damage done was a completely different story.

Jee-Han felt a sudden pressure over his shoulder and winced when he saw Sun-Il tighten his grip. Observing his face, he noticed his friend put on an even more serious expression than before. Just what the hell was he thinking about?

"Jee-Han, are you not a gamer? You have stats and points to distribute so _use_ those points and put them into the stat that will increase your magic power"

"But I don't know what that stat is!"

Truthfully, Sun-Il's idea made sense to him. If there was one stat to increase his physical power, surely there had to be another that had to increase his magical aptitude?

A smile formed on Sun-Il's lips as his grip on Jee-Han's shoulder loosened.

"That's the amazing thing about your power Jee-Han, you're potential has no limits. Gaia has gifted you with such an remarkable gift and while I may not understand how it works, I know that your addiction to gaming will pay off in spades. Besides, we can't stay hidden in here "

At that, Sun-Il and Jee-Han poked their heads out of the corner they were hiding behind and sure enough, the legion zombie was desperately looking everywhere for them. It checked behind every nearby house, street, and vehicle; desperately searching for its prey.

"Make a decision!" Sun-Il shouted, clearly not in the mood to waste anymore time.

"But I can fight with you Sun-Il! I made one mistake, I'll do better!" Jee-Han pleaded. He didn't know what he was saying; he was terrified at having to fight the beast at close range. However, he had already chosen to fight with Sun-Il on the front lines, there was no going back.

Sun-Il sighed as he rubbed the back of his head and then looked passed a deep gaze towards Jee-Han.

"Alright, let me break this down for you since someone needs to spell it out. There are two types of martial artists in this world. There are those that are born as fighters and those that become fighters. People in my family belong to the former while people like you belong to the latter. I've loved martial arts ever since I was a kid, even during the hellish training. Fighting runs in my blood and its become apart of me. I could say the same thing about gramps or Sae-Young, we're like monsters. That doesn't apply to you Jee-Han; you've only recently become a martial artist and what you're feeling is not the natural instinct of a warrior. I could tell during your earlier bout with the zombies. I'm not saying you have zero aptitude to be a fighter but if I'm going to be completely honest with you, you simply lack the talent and killer instinct to be on the same level as us"

Jee-Han didn't say a word as he listened to Sun-Il, taking in his in-depth analysis as if they were being edged into his mind. What he was saying wasn't wrong, in fact he hit the nail right on the head. As much as Jee-Han enjoyed slicing up zombies, it wasn't the same as being born to love the thrill of battle. It was just a brief sense of superiority, like when a child obtains a new toy and shows it off to the other kids. There was no sincerity behind it, it was empty arrogance. The fact that Sun-Il was able to point this out with just a few observations just showed how well he knew him.

Smirking, Jee-Han chuckled as he rose to his feet.

Sun-Il was understandably puzzled and raised an eye brow.

"What's up?"

"Sorry, its nothing. I understand now what you mean. Although I won't give up on learning martial arts to protect myself, I don't think it's what I should focus on. Alright, I'll raise my magic!" He shouted.

Sun-Il produced a small smile. At least he understood what he was saying. Sun-Il never wanted him to completely give up learning martial arts, that was far from what he had suggested. He just wanted Jee-Han to understand that there were better ways to support him for the time being without having to throw himself at his enemy with what little he knew of close combat quarters.

"Status!" Jee-Han summoned the window and eyed the several stats that displayed numerical values. His attention turned towards INT in which he clicked on the icon, figuring out that INT influenced his magical attack and total magic pool.

"I've found it, INT is the stat we're looking for. I'll put all my points into it!" Just as he was about to do so, he was stopped by a hand that grabbed his own. He looked at Sun-Il who didn't look too pleased by the decision.

"What's wrong? I'm doing what you said!"

"You idiot! Don't put _all_ of your stat points into INT. Use your head first, in games you never dump all your points into one category. You test it out by putting a certain number and then try to balance it by choosing another". He let go of Jee-Han's hand and sighed, wondering how a person who played games all day didn't even know that much.

" _He's right..._ " Jee-Han reflected, looking at the other stat that had piqued his interest.

Wisdom.

"Should I invest some remaining points into Wisdom?" He stated more than asked and clicked on the icon, revealing that the stat influenced his mana regeneration along with mana resistance.

"Yes, if we use human logic then increasing both your INT and WIS is a favorable move. Think about it, if Intelligence reflects knowledge then WIS must reflect application, right?"

The explanation was a bit hard to understand but Jee-Han liked the sound of the results and nodded his head.

"Alright, let's do it!"

Of the remaining 37 points he had, he placed 31 of them into INT that increased it to 50, ignoring the passives. As for WIS, the remaining 6 points were added to it and increased it to 13.

Suddenly...

 **DING!**

 **The skill** 『 **Mana Affinity** 』 **has been created through INT rising above 50**

『 **Mana Affinity - Passive** 』

 **A technique that allows the user to become more sensitive to mana and handle it better.**

 **《15 % increase in Offensive Mana Based Skills》**

 **《10 % increase in Defensive Mana Based Skills》**

 **《10 % increase in Proficiency towards all Magic Related Skills》**

 **《Total MP Increased by 500》**

" _Holy crap!_ "

Jee-Han was at a complete loss of words at the downright _broken_ passive skill he just recieved. In his head, Jee-Han felt as if many things that he couldn't understand before had become surprisingly simple now with his higher intelligence. In regards to magic, he could instantly tell that his aptitude for sensing and handling mana had become much sharper. He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of increasing his INT or WIS much sooner.

"Well? Did it work?" Sun-Il asked, unable to view the notifications.

Jee-Han sported a wide grin as he clenched his right fist.

"Hell yea it did. Increasing my INT to 50 provided me with a skill called mana affinity, which lets me handle mana better".

Sun-Il looked dimly impressed as he scanned him from top to bottom.

"You should be able to create stronger long distance spells now, right?"

"I'm...not sure. I'll have to give it a shot against Frankenstein over there"

Sun-Il nodded in accordance and grabbed his friend by the waist.

"Now that's what I like to hear! Let's get em!" Sun-Il squatted down a bit before he leaped through the air, causing Jee-Han to scream for his life as he was carried through the air like a rag-doll. As Sun-Il landed on the rooftop of a nearby house and dropped the lifeless Jee-Han next to him, he observed the gigantic zombie still looking for the two of them.

"You damn bastard... at least warn me next time you'll do something like that..." Jee-Han had recovered and clutched his rapidly beating heart that he felt would someday explode from the craziness in his life.

"Quit whining, it spotted us" Sun-Il casually mentioned as he pointed his finger towards the zombie who had finally found what it was looking for. A rather disturbing smile formed on its face as it slowly approached the duo.

"Oh Shit! What's the plan, Sun-Il?" Jee-Han asked.

"Simple, I'll distract it while you concentrate on supporting from here. If I keep running around while distracting it, you shouldn't have a problem getting a clean hit. Once we wear it down, crushing it like an ant should be a simple matter"

A well thought of plan that Jee-Han approved off, though he was a bit put off by the way Sun-Il had phrased that last part. Only he could think of something that enormous as nothing more than some sort of bug.

Jee-Han stood to his feet and calmed his breathing, glaring the zombie down as it made its approach.

"Ready..." Sun-Il began as he squatted down and positioned himself in a marathon runner's stance.

"Go!" He sprinted off the ground, moving so fast that he became a blur. Before the zombie could even react, he slammed his left knee into the beasts's right eye.

" _Grahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!_ "

The legion zombie roared in pain, tumbling back and clutching its now swollen eye as purple liquid now dripped from the wound. Jee-Han watched the spectacle with his mouth hanging wide open as he tried to make sense of what just happened. Sun-Il movements had been so swift that he completely lost track of him until the moment of impact.

Sun-Il landed on the ground and smirked, satisfied with the damage he had done.

"What's wrong? I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" His voice was noticeably colder and carried a mocking feeling towards them.

The zombie ignored Jee-Han and turned around to glare at Sun-Il. It howled as it raised its left hand into the air to squash him. Sun-Il dodged at the last second as he flipped through the air with remarkable grace and landed on a fence, adopting the same arrogant position.

"Come on, is that all you got?" Sun-Il's taunts didn't go unanswered as the zombie charged at him again.

" _Don't let me down, Jee-Han_ " were Sun-Il's last thoughts before he faced the titan before him.

Deciding to not let Sun-Il's efforts go to waste, Jee-Han calmed his breathing and stood on the roof top with his hand making an upwards open palm and placed his other arm around the adjacent arm, supporting it. The way he looked right now would make people think Jee-Han was trying to catch something that was going to fall into his hand.

He concentrated, allowing the natural floating ki in the air flow into his palm. Thanks to raising his INT and receiving the skill『 **Mana Affinity** 』, utilizing his mana had become much easier and felt quite natural to him. He had already activated the『 **Chunbu Spirit Technique** 』which allowed him to purify raw ki, making the process even easier. Jee-Han felt a bit guilty that he learned to control ki so easily when it probably took normal practitioners of magic years of dedicated training to do the same.

Focusing back onto the ki he was manipulating in his palm, he concentrated and tried to expand it so that he could shape it into something.

" _Expand it...Expand it...Expand it..._ " Like a chant, he kept repeating those words in his head until they became the only things inhabiting his ego.

Suddenly, a sphere of pure white mana was formed and floated within the palm of his hand, causing the anxious Jee-Han to grin at his accomplishment. It was different from『 **Energy Bolt** 』that was just the raw state of mana that had no shape or form.

A sudden realization snapped inside Jee-Han's head as he absently wondered about trying to mold the sphere. He didn't know why but he felt as if his mana should be used more creatively, not just blindly forcing attacks.

" _Alright... shape it... shape it..._ "

He concentrated once more, pouring all of his effort into trying to shape the white sphere. The sphere reacted accordingly and began to change shape, morphing into what seemed to be an arrow as it floated in Jee-Han's hand.

 **DING!**

 **A skill has been created through a special action!**

 **Continuous manipulation of mana has created a skill with piercing power,** 『 **Mana Arrow** 』

『 **Mana Arrow (Active) Level 1 EXP 0.00 % / MP: 5** 』

 **A technique only possible for those talented in manipulating mana.**

"I-I did it!" Jee-Han's excitement was well deserved. No doubt thanks to『 **Mana Affinity** 』, the ability to manipulate his mana to such a degree had become much easier than it was without the skill.

" _Graaaaaaaaaaaaaa!_ "

Jee-Han's attention was redirected towards the colossal zombie playing tag with his best friend who was effortlessly avoiding the zombie's grasp. It looked like an overweight high school bully trying to chase down a small and agile kid around a playground.

" _Does he even need my help..._ " Jee-Han wondered as he watched Sun-Il jump around with enjoyment. He shook his head at the thought, focusing back on using his newly created skill.

"Let's test this bad boy out!"

Steadying himself, Jee-Han aimed the floating mana arrow in his hand at the zombie who's back was now facing Jee-Han. He chucked the arrow and it soared through the air with impressive velocity, embedding itself into the zombie's lower back. The zombie had stopped chasing Sun-Il and growled in anguish at the unexpected source of discomfort.

Jee-Han thought his attack had done considerable damage and checked the zombie's HP but frowned when he saw it was very minimal, not even cutting down the mosnter's HP by 1/10 of its total amount.

After the zombie stopped howling, it turned around to find the source of whatever was stupid enough to attack it. It found its target and growled at Jee-Han who swallowed his spit at the threatening gaze.

The zombie ignored Sun-Il and made a dash straight for Jee-Han who looked close to panicking. However, it didn't get a chance to take more than ten steps as it felt a heavy impact on one of its legs.

"Hou... you've got some nerve ignoring me..." Sun-Il had a sadistic smile on his face, having his right leg outstretched.

The zombie was having trouble deciding on what to do, go after Jee-Han who blind shot him or Sun-Il who had hit him from below. It didn't care which one died first, but it had trouble deciding which one to kill first.

"Sun-Il! I did it!" Jee-Han shouted in the distance, his voice echoing over towards Sun-Il who smiled.

"Yea I noticed! Great work! Try creating a stronger attack now! I'll buy you some more time!" He shouted back.

Jee-Han nodded and went back to holding his left arm face up with an open palm position. Now that he had created an attack that could be used more effectively than『 **Energy Bolt** 』, it was time for a finishing move.

Several anime raced through his mind and he tried to base his finishing move off those that he enjoyed, such as Naruto's Rasengan or Goku's Kamehameha. However, he didn't want to copyright them so he tried something more original.

Concentrating, he let the flow of ki enter his body again and condensed his power into another sphere that appeared. This time, the sphere was much brighter and larger, indicating that he was using much more MP than before. Thanks to raising his INT, he had more MP to spare and poured in every last ounce of it into this new killer move. This finishing move would drain him completely so he had to make sure that whatever came out was something that could obliterate the zombie.

" _Think! I need something that can pierce through the zombie's defense just like the arrow... arrow... pierce... I've got it!_ _I've got the perfect shape!"_ he mentally shouted and began shaping his new move.

Sun-Il dodged another stomp from the zombie who looked more pissed than ever. He couldn't it blame it though, from the way he was trolling the poor thing it had every right to be. He looked over towards Jee-Han who was occupied with creating something and smiled in satisfaction. He had only recently become accustom to using ki and now he was handling it with such efficiency. The world truly was unfair.

His attention snapped back to the zombie as it tried to kick him but missed as Sun-Il nimbly ducked his head. He then ran in and jumped up, placing a palm over top the zombie's scalp and flipped over it. Using his momentum, he delivered a swift kick the nape of its neck, causing the beast to howl in anguish as it fell to the ground on one knee and held its neck.

Sun-Il had already jumped off and landed on the ground, slightly panting as the continuous usage of Ki towards his feet and legs were taxing. It was nothing he couldn't get over but he was a bit annoyed at how durable the zombie was. Most enemies he had faced never lasted this long against him.

" _Perhaps I should finish this with a more advanced technique_ " He wondered. If he used _that_ technique, then this fight would be over in no time. However, that wasn't the point of this. He had purposely been dodging the zombie's attack to give Jee-Han more time. This was crucial battle experience that Jee-Han needed in order to advance further. All the grinding and training in the world was pointless if you didn't have the experience to utilize them properly.

Sun-Il looked back at Jee-Han and was quite surprised at what he was seeing. Floating in the center of Jee-Han's palm was the shape of a long spear as it span endlessly in his arm, producing an abundant pressure of wind near as Jee-Han's clothes were blowing rapidly. Sun-Il could recognize that Jee-Han had decided to go for a piercing type of attack to compensate for the zombie's hard defense. The Javelin radiated with so much energy that it felt as if it could pierce through the zombie several times over and still keep on going.

"You like my new move!?" Jee-Han abruptly shouted.

Sun-Il chuckled a bit.

"Definitely, just look at that thing!. I feel sorry for this guy who's going to have to take it all!" Jee-Han clicked his tongue at Sun-Il less than subtle sexual innuendo while Sun-Il snickered a bit.

 _"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

The zombie's voice had risen and he howled in frustration, finally deciding on its target while making a move towards the stationary Sun-Il. Reading the situation, Sun-Il decided to help Jee-Han's aim by running towards him with the zombie right on its tail, who didn't even notice that he had given Jee-Han a perfect shot for his new move.

"You better aim well!" Sun-Il stated as he drew closer, with the zombie only a few steps behind.

Jee-Han nodded as he focused his aim towards the zombie's head, hoping for a head shot. He had played a few first person shooter games and there was nothing more satisfying than getting a perfectly aimed head shot. Absolutely nothing.

"Alright, go time!"

Sun-Il nodded and in a flash, he had moved out of the way and jumped to the side. The zombie's head turned towards his direction and when it snapped back to Jee-Han's, it was already too late.

" **Spiral Javelin**!"

Putting all his strength into throwing the compressed spear, the lance that Jee-Han had created flew at an unbelievable speed towards the zombie's head. Unfortunately, his trajectory was slightly off and instead of getting a perfect head shot, the Javelin pierced through the zombie's neck like a bullet and crashed through several buildings behind the zombie.

" _Oraaaaga_!"

The cries of agony and dread spread across the Illusion Barrier as the zombie fell onto its knees, gasping for air. It's one good eye that was still visible was now devoid of any pupils, indicating that the beast was unconscious as it fell to the ground with a loud thump.

Poof, it evaporated in a sea of black smoke along with the huge gaping hole in its neck.

Jee-Han wiped the drips of sweat evident on his face and made his way down from the roof top. It was a tough battle but they had did it; they had defeated a Legion Zombie.

"High five dude!" Jee-Han shouted towards Sun-Il who was standing next to the remains of the zombie. Sun-Il raised his palm into the air and it collided with Jee-Han's as they celebrated.

"That was one hell of a finisher, quite impressive. How'd you pull that off?" Sun-Il actually seemed excited.

Jee-Han laughed a bit.

"I don't know man, it just came to me. Since I already had an arrow move, I based my finishing move off it. I needed something that could pierce, you know?"

As he said this, a new notification appeared before him.

 **DING!**

 **You've thought of a new skill!**

 **Would you like to name it?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

Well... this was new.

The game had never asked Jee-Han to name a skill before so it was slightly surprising. More than that however, Jee-Han couldn't hide the rising excitement that was evident on his face as he quickly pressed yes to name his new skill.

"Heh, I wonder what I should call it?" Jee-Han mumbled to himself, not noticing the peculiar stare coming from Sun-Il.

 **Would you like to name it "Heh, I wonder what I should call it"?**

" _Obviously not!_ " Jee-Han mentally shouted. Gaia was screwing with him again. He quickly rectified the problem by naming the skill "Spiral Javelin" and pressed confirm, creating a new notification screen that gave him the details of his new skill.

『 **Spiral** **Javelin (Active) Level 1 EXP 0.00 % / MP: 600** 』

 **A technique used to gather and spin an immense amount of mana in the form of a javelin. The spiral spin greatly increases its piercing power, and the increased amount of mana also greatly increases its strength.**

 **35 % increase in defense penetration  
650 % increase in piercing damage  
Cast time: 5 seconds  
Cooldown: 3 minutes  
Depending on the user, it is possible to increase the cast time of the Spiral Javelin. There is an additional damage increase the longer the duration.  
**

Sun-Il almost had to catch the falling Jee-Han as the man in question almost fainted after observing his new skill. No, it wasn't fair to call it a skill anymore. Gaia had granted Jee-Han with a downright weapon of mass destruction!

"O-Oi! What's wrong with you?" Sun-Il was flabbergasted at his friend's strange behavior.

Coming back to reality, Jee-Han had finally calmed down and explained what had occurred to Sun-Il, who could only gasp in surprise at the sudden revelation. If what Jee-Han had said was true, then that new skill of his was something that no one would ever want to get hit by. Just as Sun-Il was thinking that, his attention was taken at a new notification that appeared.

 **«Gained 12,720 Experience!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

Sun-Il blinked several times before narrowing his eyes to confirm what had just appeared. _He_ could gain levels!? Jee-Han's power may have defied all logic but this was just too much.

"Sweet, looks like I leveled up twice and I gained a new title! As ugly as that thing was, it had some good exp to share... what's wrong with you?" Jee-Han was in the middle of soaking up the rewards before he noticed Sun-Il's dumbfounded expression.

"I-I just gained a level…" Sun-Il was still recovering so his voice was barely audible towards Jee-Han.

Jee-Han looked a bit surprised before he wore an arrogant smile.

"That's because of my power! My gamer ability not only grants me godlike powers but it can also give commoners like you-"

 ** _Whack!_**

A gruesome bump appeared on Jee-Han's head as he rubbed the poor wound, noting to himself to never call Sun-Il a commoner again. After blowing on his knuckles, Sun-Il returned to observing the unexpected phenomenon of Jee-Han's gamer powers and how they even affected him.

"Anyway, this is amazing. I never guessed that your ability would allow me gain levels too, do I get to distribute the points as well?" Sun-Il couldn't hide his endless curiosity as he looked over to Jee-Han who wore a more humble smirk.

"Yup, just say status and you'll get too"

Sun-Il shrugged.

"Status"

A brown notification box opened up in front of Sun-Il who's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"I'm assuming it worked?" Jee-Han had asked but knew the answer already from his friend's facial expression.

 **Name:** Shin Sun-Il **  
Class:** Chunbumoon's Heir **  
** **Title:** 《The One Who Perseveres》 **  
** **Level:** 30  
 **  
HP:** 2650/2650 **  
MP:** 540/540 **  
SP:** 1500/1500  
 **  
** **STR:** 42 **  
** **VIT:** 87 **  
** **DEX:** 52 **  
** **INT:** 21 **  
** **WIS:** 14 **  
** **LUK:** 25

 **EXP Level:** 1.71 %

Hold up.

"W-What the hell is all this?" Sun-Il said aloud, altering Jee-Han's attention.

"What? Aren't you looking at the status screen? Those are your stats and current information, pretty useful stuff right?" Jee-Han playfully gloated.

"I'm obviously aware of that… but what's with SP? HP and MP I can understand but what would SP be classified under?"

It was now Jee-Han's turn to be confused. He had never seen SP under his own stats. He had to get to the bottom of this.

"Observe"

Jee-Han used his trusty skill to take a look at Sun-Il's stats. He saw all of the standard information but did not see SP listed anywhere.

"Strange... I don't see it…"

Sun-Il brought a hand to his chin as he contemplated the situation. He faintly remembered playing a martial arts RPG where the human body was classified under three categories: the Body, the Mind, and the Spirit. HP represented the physical body, MP represented the human mind, and finally SP represented the spirit of a person. Could Jee-Han's power run on the same principle?

He explained what he was thinking to Jee-Han who also remembered the game and they both came to the understanding that Sun-Il's SP bar was supposed to showcase his ability to use ki, which was fundamentally different from MP or mana.

"But wait, why don't I have SP bar listed as a stat?" Jee-Han asked.

That was a good question Sun-Il thought as he searched his head for an answer.

"Possibly because you use mana as the foundation of your technique while I use chi. Remember we both may use the Chunbumoon skills to absorb ki but what we do with them is still different. In your case, you absorb ki and then condense and shape it with your mana, requiring you to use your MP. On the other hand, I absorb ki and the go through a different process that I've mastered called『 **Spirit Channel** 』that lets me utilize that raw ki in its purest form. I suppose because of your gamer powers, you can just convert ki into mana for convenience since normally, it would be impossible to use ki the way my family does without knowing the Spirit Channel"

Normally, Jee-Han was sure he wouldn't understand a word of what Sun-Il was saying but now, he was able to take in most of it. Raising his INT and WIS sure did pay off in spades.

"Wow, I guess that explains why you have an SP bar and I don't... but I don't don't get why I can't see it. Maybe If I learned that spirit thing thing too, ya think?"

Sun-Il shrugged as he closed his window.

"Maybe. I'll teach it to you later. In any case, I won't be spending these any time soon, not until we understand more about your powers. You should save your points from now on as well, don't spend them recklessly"

Jee-Han nodded as he closed his party, equipping his new《 **Zombie Slayer** 》title and was just about to escape the Illusion Barrier until he noticed a dim light coming from the remains of the zombie.

"Hey, what's what?" He pointed, altering Sun-Il towards a group of items that were lying on the floor. They both made their way over there and almost fainted at what they had saw lying on the ground.

* * *

 **【** **10:00 PM, Han Family Residence** **】**

On his bed, Jee-Han was sitting down cross legged as he stared the items before him with a skeptical gaze. Three vials of red liquid, a stack of cash, and a green spell book were seated upon his pillow.

After he and Sun-Il had royally schooled the Legion Zombie, they noticed that the beast had dropped a few items and were shocked to say the least. Jee-Han however somewhat expected this; since he had already obtained drops from zombies beforehand, surely a bigger one would produce better results?

"But still... recovery potions, money, _and_ a spell book?"

It really was hard to believe.

Jee-Han had observed the red vial before hand and it was classified as a 『Lowest Grade - Recovery Potion』that restored 200 HP. Obtaining these god sent items solved his recovery problem since he had to admit, carrying bread and milk for future battles would be a tad embarrassing.

Sun-Il was more surprised than he originally expected. According to him, only professionals known as "Alchemists" had the ability to create instant recovery potions. They were ridiculously expensive as well, where a single one would be worth 10,000,000 won each (around 11,000 $ USD). Jee-Han immediately gave Sun-Il a couple to take with him, as thanks for not only advising him to distribute his points into INT and WIS but also because he couldn't have defeated the Legion Zombie without him. The sentiment touched Sun-Il as he snuggled the potions with tears in his eyes; it must have meant alot to him.

Jee-Han picked up the wad of cash and tried to store it in his inventory. Instantly, his funds sky rocketed from 3000 won to 503,000 won. If you were to convert that, it would turn out to be five hundred dollars in USD. Not particularly a high amount for most but for someone like Jee-Han who was just a mere high school student; it was quite the sum. Especially when you consider he obtained it just from killing a monster.

"5-5-500,000 won just from that?" Jee-Han thought he was done being surprised today but it looked like Gaia wasn't done playing with him. This was a serious matter in his mind. Monsters dropping loot was common but still, his gamer ability was just too much. If someone were able to suddenly obtain money this quickly, there was no reason not to doubt if it was real.

Finally, Jee-Han turned his attention to the skill book that had made him scream up to the heavens when he had picked it up. It was a skill known as『 **Life Drain** 』that allowed the user to not only drain an enemies HP to restore their own but would also allow the wielder to transfer their own HP to another. Quite the broken ability indeed. The skill required 35 INT to learn and Jee-Han already had that amount so he wasted no time in confirming the book, allowing the sea of knowledge to flow into his head.

With that done, Jee-Han fell back onto his bed and sighed, still going over what had happened. His original plan was just to ride Sun-Il's bus to level up and while he did accomplish that, a whole bunch of new developments just popped up.

" _I thought learning how to break Illusion Barriers would help but clearly, there are some that are inescapable. Would leveling up ID Escape help?_ "

Jee-Han made a mental note to grind that skill later as he opened his skill window. He had gained two new skills today,『 **Mana Arrow** 』and『 **Spiral Javelin** 』. Like earlier, he felt as if he needed to delete the old skills he would no longer need and eyed『 **Power Strike** 』.

"As helpful as you've been, it doesn't seem I'll need you any longer"

With that, he said the command "delete skill" and pressed confirm, saying his goodbyes to one of his former favorite skills. With the path he had now chosen, he wouldn't need it.

He then took a notepad and began jotting down the skills he would be using as his main arsenal. For offense, he currently had『 **Mana Arrow** 』and『 **Spiral Javelin** 』, for support he could use his passives such as the『 **Chunbu Outer Ki Technique** 』and『 **Chunbu Breathing Technique** 』to increase his stats. The thought of using the『 **Chunbu Foot Technique** 』crossed his mind as he recalled how swiftly Sun-Il moved when he dodged the legion zombie. Learning how to perform high speed movement was definitely something he was going to work on so he jotted it down. He wasn't going to be one of those squishy mages who could only stand in the back and watch the battle. To be more effective in combat, he was going to be a master of both close combat and long distance, a hybrid if you will.

"I just realized I don't have any defensive skills... what about a shield? That's it, I need one!"

Jee-Han traced his mind back to a fantasy RPG he played not too long ago and one of the most basic skills magicians learned was the mana shield. It protected them from all outside attacks and was perfect for buying some time to use more power offensive attacks.

Jee-Han stood up from his seat and jumped to the ground from his bed. After making sure his mother wasn't around, he closed his eyes and used the『 **Chunbu Breathing Technique** 』to gather mana. The mana was beginning to build inside the pit of his stomach and began to condense as he tried to project that energy around himself.

" _A shield... A shield... A shield..._ " Jee-Han's thoughts became louder and louder in his mind. His body was then surrounded by an intense glow as he continued chanting.

The aura around his body then expanded and took the form of a transparent sphere that covered everything around Jee-Han, a complete 360 degree shield.

 **DING!**

 **A skill has been obtained through a special action!**

 **Through continuous condensing and expanding of mana, a skill to block attacks,** 『 **Mana Shield** 』 **has been created.**

『 **Mana Shield (Active) - Level 1 EXP 0.00 % / MP:30** 』

 **One of the most basic defense skills that is used to block outside attacks.**

 **50 Additional MP used per minute.**

Jee-Han grinned widely at the success of his experiment. From the moment he learned the 『 **Chunbu Breathing Technique** 』along with『 **Mana Affinity** 』, he could now freely shape his mana into whatever object he desired if he concentrated hard enough. This was definitely a skill that he should have picked up a long time ago.

"Excellent, now my defenses should be covered. Though, I'll need to test how effective this shield is. Adding more layers would cost more mana, right?" Jee-Han theorized as he concentrated and sure enough, two more layers were added on top.

Jee-Han looked at his MP bar and noticed a heavy decrease. Looks like the more layers added, the more MP was used up. He increased his MP bar quite a bit because of all the points he invested into INT but all that MP would be quickly gone with just a few attacks. At the moment, prolonged on battles like the one with the Legion Zombie would be no good.

Suddenly, he remembered the technique that would be able to solve his problems effortlessly. The『 **Chunbu Breathing Technique** 』was a skill that not only passively increased his stats but also allowed him to permanently increase his MP by Inner Ki training.

" _Why haven't I thought of raising this before!?_ " Jee-Han lamented in his mind. It could have been due to his low WIS and INT.

From what Jee-Han recalled, in order to strengthen his Inner Ki he needed to deplete his current mana. Once the mana was depleted, accessing and utilizing inner ki should become easier.

Jee-Han was going to give it a try. As he did so, the events that had transpired earlier today and what direction his life was headed filled his mind. His gamer ability not only allowed him to produce incredible powers but was also now assisting him financially. At the rate that his power's were manifesting, there wouldn't even really be a need to go to school anymore.

" _Now wouldn't that be nice..._ " Jee-Han wondered before concentrating back on his training. In any case, it wasn't like he was going to actively put himself in the Abyss. He was only getting strong enough to support Sun-Il if anything like what happened with Sung-Gong happened again. Once Sung-Gon was done making Illusion Barriers, the threat would stop and his peaceful life would return again.

At least, this is what he desperately hoped would happen.

Of course, Jee-Han had no way of knowing that his life was never going to be "peaceful" again.

* * *

 **【** **12:00 PM, Nearby City Block** **】**

A chilling wind blew past Sung-Gong who was standing on the roof of a building. This was his usual spot for gathering the souls of zombies and he'd come here often just to gaze at the moon.

Sung-Gong's gaze was directed towards illuminating sight above him.

" _Such a beautiful moon tonight..._ "

He had just finished his gathering for the night and planned to head home before his senses picked up an odd feeling. No, calling it an odd feeling would be wrong as it felt that whatever he was sensing was _not_ good in the slightest. Sung-Gong looked in every direction within his Illusion Barrier, frantically searching for the root of the problem.

" _Goooooo_..."

The eerie sound of a spirit echoed throughout his ears as he looked below and saw what had been plaguing his mind. Spirits, the souls of human beings were being gathered. However, these were not the kind of spirits that would indicate they were human, more like they were the spirits of the dead, the spirits of the undead more specifically.

Sung-Gong observed all the undead spirits gathering to a single spot in the center of a street. He already knew that when numerous undead were being threatened, they would come together to form a titan like zombie. He had seen it several times already and was easily able to deal with it; it wasn't even worth mentioning in his mind.

However, this time was different. Sung-Gong could sense that whatever abomination the spirits were trying to create by coming together would be vastly superior to that creature.

"I should eliminate it before it forms..." He decided as he reached his right hand out to make an open palm. A tunnel of black energy sprouted in front of it and formed a large dark sphere that floated in the air.『 **Shadow Bullet** 』was the name of the ball he was currently holding. It was a low cost spell that didn't have much power but for undead of that caliber, it was more than enough to exterminate them without a trace.

"Begone"

The command initiated the attack as the sphere was shot from his palm and soared through the air right towards the gathering of spirits. Sung-Gong was confident his low level spell should be sufficient enough to deal with the problem

The sphere reached the spirits but was blocked abruptly by a wall of undead zombies that appeared out of nowhere. Sung-Gon looked visibly annoyed as he never recalled the zombies generated in his Illusion Barrier being able to do that.

" _They repelled it!? How..._ " He wondered as he looked at the fresh pile of corpses. He noticed all of the other zombies in the area slowly approaching the gathering. It was as if the zombies were protecting the spirits, waiting for it to produce a new monster.

"This is quite the problem..." Sung-Gong noted, looking at the chain around his finger. He clicked his teeth in annoyance and continued to stare back at the spirits. Removing the chain was something he couldn't afford to do and had to deal with the situation with what he had. He reached into one of his pockets and rumbled around in there. He found what he was looking for and brought out the statue of a gargoyle made out of silver.

"『 **Awaken** 』"

Sung-Gong crushed the statue and a smoke of black energy surrounded his body. The fog looked as if it were swallowing him in its depths before it evaporated and Sung-Gong looked unharmed. What was a surprise however was the ten feet beast standing next to him that had the same form as the wax statue he had before.

This was the mid tier summon,『 **Gargoyle** 』that was one of Sung-Gong's favorites. By allowing the statue to feed on his own energy and use it as its epicenter, he could transform it into a living creature that followed his will. There were other methods which could have been used to summon a familiar but the situation needed a more advanced type of summon, one with more kick as Sung-Gong would say.

"Burn them to ashes"

His order resounded in the Gargoyle's mind as its previously devoid eyes now vibrantly glowed deep crimson.

" _Zaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa_!"

The Gargoyle screeched and flapped its jet black wings, flying straight towards its masters enemies. It opened its mouth wide and a column of fire erupted onto the city streets, scorching everything in its path. The decaying zombies were incinerated in a flash and while they felt no pain, they clearly did not enjoy being turned into a roasted barbecue. The sight was disturbing to say the least.

Once the zombies were taken care of, the Gargoyle turned its attention to the spirits that were still gathering. The zombies had done their jobs and bought enough time for the spirits to finalize the new creature as a giant white substance was expanding out.

The Gargoyle noticed this and shrieked even louder, raising one of its vicious claws into the air to pierce the white energy. Just as its claw began to descend, it was stopped by the essence that was able to create a large black hand that looked like it belonged to an orc. The hand looked unclean and dirty with its broken finger nails and chipped skin.

The rest of the body emerged from the white veil that had been gathered and Sung-Gong's eye widened at the sight. It was a troll type of monster, that easily reached past twenty meters in height. It wore nothing but a dirty brown cloth below the waist and had a bloated stomach but muscular chest. The head of the troll zombie had one of its eyes missing and its mouth was filled with rotting dirt.

"What..." Sung-Gong could barely form words at the atrocity that was now holding onto his Gargoyle that was struggling to move. The zombie slowly moved its gaze towards the Gargoyle and a wicked smile formed on its disgusting face.

"Retreat!" Sung-Gong immediately called out but it was too late.

The troll zombie grabbed the Gargoyle's head and took a huge chunk of the summoned creature's torso. The Gargoyle couldn't even shriek in agony as its entire upper half was devoured by the troll zombie and the rest of it soon followed. The abomination chewed on the remains and a dark liquid oozed out from its mouth. It was a sight that Sung-Gong had wished he never had the pleasure of viewing.

" _Damn..._ "

Sung-Gong cursed as he looked at the creature who had now turned its attention towards him.

One of his favorite summons and a creature who's abilities he had confidence in its was easily devoured in front of him. The abomination would have usually posed no threat on a regular day but this wasn't a regular day to say the least. For starters, the amount of spirits that had composed of the troll zombie must have numbered in the thousands. What's even more strange is how they could take a physical form when they were just a bunch of spirits. Sung-Gong had already made counter measures for every possible outcome but this was something he was not expecting.

Suddenly, the troll turned its gaze away from Sung-Gong and just stared distantly towards another direction. Sung-Gong looked that way as well and was confused at what exactly it was looking at.

 **Crack!**

The troll zombie punched nothing but the air itself and somehow, a crack had formed in the sky.

Oh god no.

Sung-Gong's face began to pale and drips of sweat fell from his face at what the troll zombie was doing.

It was trying to destroy his Illusion Barrier.

This was bad, _seriously_ bad.

Sung-Gong swiftly dashed forward towards the zombie who was now attempting to break out from its prison. Under normal circumstances, breaking out of an Illusion Barrier was impossible for creatures spawned within the Illusion Barrier. However, this monster was somehow attempting to do just that. Whether Gaia was having maintenance problems or just really bad luck, Sung-Gong didn't know or care. He just knew one thing.

If that troll zombie was allowed to roam free in the real world, some serious shit was about to go down.

* * *

 **A/N: Well damn, I bet most of us weren't expecting that to happen where we? This troll zombie is now attempting to bust out of the Illusion Barriers and if that's the case, what would happen if it managed to make it into the real world? Sung-Gong apparently knows and is trying to stop it.**

 **So, the "Zombie Legion" arc is approaching its finale. The finale will be noticeably longer than the previous chapters but will be completely original and will be the ignition that starts off the divergence!**

 **I hope you all will be anticipating that!**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Zombie Slayer》 **«NEW** **»** **  
** **Level:** 16 (↑2 UP)

 **HP:** 890/890 **  
** **MP:** 1230/1230  
 **  
** **STR:** 26 (↑1 UP) **  
** **VIT:** 26 (↑1 UP) **  
** **DEX:** 21 (↑1 UP) **  
** **INT:** 60 (↑42 UP) **  
** **WIS:** 15 (↑8 UP) **  
** **LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 0 **  
** **Money:** ₩503,000

* * *

 **《Skills》  
**  
 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 3  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2 **«NEW** **»**  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2 **«NEW** **»**  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1 **«NEW** **»**

 **Defensive:**  
• Mana Shield (Active): Level 1 **«NEW** **»**

 **Support:  
** • Observe (Active) | Lv: 5 **«** **↑1 UP** **»**  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 2 **«** **↑1 UP** **»**  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 4 **«** **↑1 UP** **»**  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 2  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3 **«** **↑1 UP** **»**  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive) | Lvl: 4 **«** **↑1 UP** **»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 3  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 1  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 2 **«** **↑1 UP** **»**

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active) | Lv: 2  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 1


	10. (Arc 1) Chapter 10

**A/N: A quick update after a long hiatus! I know you guys have been hoping for a come back and I'm proud to say I've gotten my schedule on track again. I'm glad that you guys are still reading this story and I hope you'll continue to support me in my endeavor to update it.**

 **QuantumZero: A mini spinning spiral javelin? What an amusing idea haha. I never thought about a miniature version of the move so thanks for the suggestion, it might actually make an appearance.**

 **kabir0399: As always, thanks for the review Kabiri! I definitely agree that "I want to be a normal person" stories are cliche and overdone which is exactly what I'm trying to avoid in this story. Jee-Han's character development will center about going from that mentality to wanting to change the Abyss.**

 **LordXeenTheGreat: I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

 **Guest #2: Pardon me for not specifying it but Jee-Han actually did level up, twice in fact. His current level at the moment is 16, two levels higher than the previous chapter's 14. I added it just in case for future readers who might miss it.**

 **Let's dispense with words and get onto the chapter before the finale!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manhwa written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 10**

 **【** **9:45 AM, Yeogang High School** **】**

"How fascinating..."

Sitting down elegantly, legs crossed and holding a book; Shi-Yun licked her lips and flipped a page. The current period was free activity so all of the students were allowed to do whatever they pleased until the next bell. Shi-Yun had no intentions of studying or reviewing whatever she took down in class and focused her attention onto something far more important.

It was an intriguing piece of literature that centered on a timid high school boy that learned martial arts for self defense.

Shi-Yun had taken the book from her older brother's room one day as more of a joke. Since it _was_ a book and she had nothing better to do with it until her brother came to take it back, she thought she'd try reading it. In her opinion, it was one of the best decisions she had made in her entire life. The book was simply fascinating and a lot of the themes and symbols in the series were eerily similar to those she had been taught within her own clan. It was as if she was reading the story of a person who was exactly in her shoes, except with a different background.

" _Shi Woon-Yi...how will he defeat these formidable enemies?_ " Shi-Yun's heart stirred as she flipped to the next page, eagerly awaiting the outcome of the cliffhanger. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance however as her hopes were crushed when it was to be continued in the next volume.

So much for that.

" _Darn, I need to know what happens next! Does Oppa have the next volume?"_ She contemplated as she placed the book back into her bag and sighed. She moved a few strands of her hair out of her eye and leaned back, observing the chattering class full of students.

Initially, she had no interest in why Sung-Gong had not appeared for chemistry class today but was intrigued when one of the staff reported he had gone missing. That was definitely strange, even for someone as mysterious as him.

" _Does this have anything to do with why he's been creating illusion barriers?_ " It was possible; no it had to be that. He was a very punctual man, always arriving to class on time and leaving right at the bell. Sung-Gong not reporting on why he wasn't coming in was definitely abnormal.

She glanced at the door and watched as the Chunbumoon's heir, Sun-Il and the wimpy looking guy Jee-Han returned with lunch. Shi-Yun didn't think much of it but she had noted that the two of them didn't converse with any of the other students. They did everything together, whether it be trading notes in class, eating lunch together, or even walking home.

" _So…that boy is close to the Chunbumoon…"_ Even though she didn't feel as if they were lying to her when they denied any information regarding Sung-Gong, Shi-Yun still held her suspicions. Getting close to the two of them could be beneficial towards discovering more about him but she wasn't thrilled at the idea. Getting too close to a rival clan would cause all sorts of issues in the future.

It was better to observe them for now and see where it could lead her.

" _I swear…I will make that bastard pay..."_ Her right hand was balled into a fist as her teeth began to seethe in anger. The thought of the person who crippled her clan still roaming out there without being able to do anything about it infuriated her to no end. It was even worse when the matter regarding Sung-Gong's dismissal was announced.

" _What could grandfather be thinking?!"_ She mentally shouted. It was blasphemous to assume that he, the leader of the Yunhonmoon and a man revered as the "Dawn Tiger" was afraid of Sung-Gong.

She closed her eyes and tried to calm down, inhaling and breathing out to rest her nerves. Getting worked up over every little thing wouldn't accomplish anything. What she had to do was think of some way to-

"Wow! I didn't know you liked that manhwa too, Shi-Yun!"

The girl's heart nearly jumped out of her bosom at the sudden voice calling out to her. Her eyes were met with a broad smiling Jee-Han standing in front of her with a glint of excitement in his eyes. Sun-Il was leaning on a desk next to him with an innocent grin on his face.

"Wha…"

She was at a loss of words and looked completely stunned. When had they gotten there?

"Who would have thought, the prodigy of Yunhonmoon would be interested in Korean manhwa's"

The startled red head narrowed her eyes at the Chunbumoon's heir and was annoyed by the foxy smile he had on. She may have respected the fact that he was the heir to the rival clan and must have been a talented martial artist but she loathed his attitude. He reminded her of fox spirits tales, people who found nothing more enjoyable than teasing and being mischevious. Not only that, but even the way his eyes were always closed were too fox like and she absently wondered if he was even human.

Tossing that thought aside, she huffed as she turned her head away from the duo.

"I don't have an interest in them, I was just killing time".

The excitement in Jee-Han's eyes went down as he heard that.

"Well that's too bad; I'm also a real big fan of the series" Jee-Han admitted.

It was true that he spent most if not all his time gaming but every now and then, he'd read up on Korean and Japanese comics online. In this generation, it was a very common in most households.

"Do you two need something from me?" Shi-Yun didn't even bother to hide her open annoyance at having been disturbed and sent ice cold stares at the two.

Jee-Han looked a little startled by her bluntness as he backed up slowly while Sun-Il shrugged at the rather direct comment.

"Not particularly, we just saw the book on your desk and wanted to come over. Right, Jee-Han?"

Jee-Han slowly nodded as he gave a forced smile.

Shi-Yun looked in between the two, gauging their facial expressions. She might have been over analyzing them but it wouldn't hurt to confirm her suspicions again.

"Let me ask you two something. Our chemistry teacher Sung-Gong; are you aware of why he is absent today?"

Jee-Han looked confused by the question while Sun-Il merely raised an eyebrow. Sun-Il sighed as he watched Shi-Yun observe him with more interest than necessary. She was suspecting them again, how annoying.

"Not this again. Look, we already told you we don't know anything about what Sung-Gong does or what his goals are. What proof do you have to even suspect us?"

Shi-Yun felt a bit pressured from the question and drew her eyes to Jee-Han who tensed up from the piercing gaze.

"I have no proof. I'm just asking everyone I believe is hiding something from me, does that not make sense?"

"Uh… not really" Jee-Han deadpanned.

Sun-Il chuckled at the logic.

"So you're basically suspecting us on the grounds of your own intuition? Is that right?"

Shi-Yun merely nodded with a blank face. Jee-Han couldn't help but think the act was cute of sorts and blushed a little.

"You're quite the detective"

Though it sounded as a compliment, Jee-Han knew it wasn't anything but sarcasm.

"I don't consider myself as such but I thank you for the kind words"

Both Sun-Il and Jee-Han traded perplexed looks as they bore witness first hand to Shi-Yun's naivety. Did she seriously believe he was complimenting her?

Jee-Han awkwardly laughed at Shi-Yun's misunderstanding, turning his head outside the window to distract him from the conversation. However, what he saw outside was something that he would later regret that he hadn't seen at all.

"What... how..." His voice was beginning to crack and words could only barely escape his mouth.

Sun-Il noticed his friend's odd behavior and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's up? Did you fall for Shi-Yun or something" Sun-Il teased as he glanced over to the girl in question who just raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"S-Sun-Il… look outside"

Jee-Han raised his arm slowly and pointed it towards the open window, making Sun-Il and Shi-Yun both follow his arm. Both their eyes widened in disbelief and Sun-Il's usually closed eyes were visibly open this time. Shi-Yun immediately stood up from her seat and slammed her hands onto the desk.

"That can't be…!"

Floating in the sky miles away from the school was a large crack, like the ones that appeared in Illusion Barriers. It was wide and had a zigzag ripple that tore through the air, as if someone had punched a wall of glass.

The three of them were stunned into silence, trying to figure out exactly what was the root of this dilemma. Jee-Han looked around the class and noticed that nobody else except for them were noticing it. This didn't make any sense, how could no one notice? It wasn't as if none of them weren't looking outside, the crack was in plain sight!

Suddenly, Jee-Han felt as if time had stopped and looked around to see that everyone else in the classroom was frozen. The idea of it being an Illusion Barrier was on his mind but if that was the case, why were they frozen?

He looked in between Shi-Yun and Sun-Il and saw that they were fine.

"W-Why are we in an Illusion Barrier?"

"That was my doing."

Jee-Han turned to Shi-Yun who had already was set to leave by having one leg on the window.

"Smart move." Sun-Il had cut in. "Letting the other students see what you're up to would be bad."

The woman in question just nodded her head and then turned back to the crack.

"I'll investigate what caused that disturbance, there's no need for you two to get involved"

"What do you mean? Why do you have to investigate that thing?" Jee-Han asked.

Shi-Yun looked at Jee-Han as if he was an idiot. "Because the Yunhonmoon are designated representatives of this region. Any and all disturbances that destroy the balance of Seoul is our responsibility"

"Don't you mean _our_ responsibility." Sun-Il snorted. "You can't expect my clan to not interfere with this problem"

Shi-Yun shot back a fierce glare at the stubborn Sun-Il who's determined facial expression conveyed his conviction. No matter what she said to him, he wouldn't back down.

Relenting, she bowed her head in respect and turned to face the shred in the dimension once again.

"I understand. We will cooperate on this investigation"

Jee-Han breathed an air of relief at the fact that the two had come to a mutual understanding. He was worried for a minute there that there might have been a fight.

Sun-Il nodded and then grabbed Jee-Han by his neck, pulling him into a headlock and shooting a soft smile at Shi-Yun.

"Then it's settled. Me and gamer boy over here will head back to the Chunbumoon and figure out what's going on"

"H-Huh?" Jee-Han was at a loss of words now; _he_ was tagging along?

"Understood, I shall be taking my leave then"

With that, the figure of the dazzling red beauty vanished as she jumped from the window, leaving a flabbergasted Jee-Han and an amused Sun-Il rubbing his chin.

"You know, she really shouldn't jump like that when she's wearing a skirt. I don't think she'd appreciate the view she's letting us have"

"Hey!" Jee-Han ignored that last comment and pushed Sun-Il away from him, grabbing him by the collar in the process.

"What's this whole business about me coming along!?"

Sun-Il tilted his head in confusion at the sudden question.

"You don't want to come?"

"W-Well..." Jee-Han let go of Sun-Il's collar as he looked towards the ground while his body was slightly trembling. Sun-Il narrowed his eyes as he quickly took notice his friend's current state.

"Are you afraid?"

That was the golden question.

Jee-Han couldn't answer Sun-Il's inquiry as he recalled the several events that had transpired during the past few days. He had gotten stronger sure but it didn't mean he was ready to jump straight into every new problem that surfaced. Jee-Han felt like kicking himself for how easy it was to shatter his resolve and cursed his own weakness. The truth of the matter was that he was actually afraid. During their last battle with the Legion Zombie, if Sun-Il hadn't been there to cover for him Jee-Han didn't want to imagine how that would have turned out. He wanted to help Sun-Il by standing as his equal and didn't want to have to be protected by him all the time. It was so frustrating!

But what should he do? Courage isn't just born out of nowhere, it's an ability that is born out of the desire to face any unknown obstacle without giving into your fear. That wasn't something Jee-Han could say he had but he knew that if he was ever going to become Sun-Il's partner, he was going to have summon his courage no matter how deep it was hidden in him. Jee-Han needed something to motivate himself to help Sun-Il; more specifically he needed something that would override his sense of fear. In games, players would be more obligated to undertake dangerous quests if there was a great reward for doing so.

Reward.

That word resounded in Jee-Han's head as his eyes blinked several times and he felt like an idiot for not thinking of this sooner.

Sun-Il sighed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Look, you're not a member of the Chunbumoon so you don't have an obligation to help in this investigation. I know you've been really looking forward to helping me out but perhaps its better you sit this one-

"Compensate me"

"..."

Sun-Il blinked at the sudden declaration as he shifted his gaze towards the straight faced Jee-Han.

"Hah?"

"I want you to compensate me for helping in this investigation"

Time just seemed to stop around the two of them as Sun-Il stared at his best friend with his mouth wide open. It wasn't that Sun-Il hadn't heard what he had said; it was more like he couldn't actually believe what came out of his mouth. He wanted... compensation?

"Are... are you for real?"

Expecting this sort of reaction, a wide smile formed on Jee-Han's lips as he crossed his arms.

"Of course! You honestly expect me to start risking my life for absolutely nothing in return? It's only natural that if you're asking for help from someone, a reasonable reward should be offered"

In Jee-Han's mind, this made complete sense to him. The situation would be different if Sun-Il's life was in danger without any prior notice but here, Sun-Il and his clan were actively going to put themselves in harm's way to resolve the issue. Since Jee-Han wasn't a member of their clan, he didn't have that same duty so technically, he was a free agent. If they wanted his help to solve their problems, they were going to have to pay up.

"It's not that what your saying doesn't make sense... it's just, how highly do you think of yourself now?"

To Sun-Il, Jee-Han's declaration came off as a bit an over inflation of his ego. I mean, did he really think his clan needed his help in this situation that they'd pay for his "services"? The thought actually kind of annoyed him as he shot a displeased look at Jee-Han.

Beginning to sense some hidden hostility, Jee-han was quick to deny what Sun-Il was thinking and shook his head.

"You're looking at it completely wrong Sun-Il. I'm not saying you guys need my help, what I'm saying is that I'd like to be given a reason for me to leap into danger with you guys. I don't think any of you would believe me if I said I was doing it out of the goodness of my heart. Hell, even I don't believe that crap"

Sun-Il had to agree with him on that statement. Anyone who would risk their lives for no other reason other than "it's because I'm a good person" was more of a fool than anything. It was easier to trust and rely on a person that at least wanted something out of them getting involved as opposed to those self righteous white knights that only existed in fairy tales.

"So you're saying that you want us to pay you so that the fear of danger will be suppressed and you'll have more of a reason to participate?" Sun-Il was starting to make sense of what he was getting at.

"Exactly! It's a good idea, right?"

Sun-Il brought a hand to his chin. "Well I wouldn't say it's the best idea you've come up with but... it does sound intriguing"

"So, what do you say? Will the Chunbumoon employ The Gamer?" Jee-Han raised his hand out for Sun-Il to grasp to complete the business transaction.

Sun-Il hesitated for a second before he sighed while lamenting that debating it any further would be pointless. He firmly grabbed Jee-Han's hand and shook it, smiling at his now present "partner".

"The Chunbumoon will gladly compensate you for your efforts in this investigation. We have a deal"

The two of them nodded and then looked back at the crack still floating in the middle of the city, growing ever so large with each passing minute. Their objective was set and it was now time to head over to the Chunbumoon to discuss with gramps about how they would deal with it.

Jee-Han smirked.

It was time to get down to business.

* * *

 **【** **10:00 AM, Yunhonmoon Center** **】**

As Jee-Han and Sun-Il had departed towards the Chunbumoon, Shi-Yun had swiftly arrived at her own clan residence and hurriedly made her way to the top floor. The clan organized their headquarters by order of importance and only those with an executive rank or higher were allowed past the fifth floor. Seeing as how this was an emergency, Shi-Yun thought it would be acceptable for the rules to be broken just this once. Though, she couldn't really say this was her first time considering all the trouble she used to get into when she was younger and tried to sneak up here. Just remembering her brother having to issue spankings was enough for her to flush in embarrassment and sped up her movement.

Arriving at a large metal door that had two guards placed on opposite sides, Shi-Yun marched towards them with a determined expression on her face. The two were dressed in formal black tuxedo's and wore matching black shades and hats, giving off a sort of mafia feel.

"State your name, rank, and purpose" one of the guards spoke in a monotone filled voice.

"I am Kwon Shi-Yun, a Ren ranked member of the main household. I wish to speak with the elders about an unexpected development" she bowed formally towards them.

"We have been instructed to deny access to anyone who hasn't been given authorization by the elders" the other one replied with the same dull voice as his counterpart.

Shi-Yun frowned. "I understand that, but this is an emergency! Just let me speak with my grandfather and I'm sure-

"No exceptions." She was cut off before she could even finish. "You have not been given authorization and cannot be allowed to pass here. Go back"

The two of them said that at the exact same time with perfect unison. It made one wonder if they had practiced saying that particular phrase but such thoughts were far from what Shi-Yun was thinking.

"Tsk"

Shi-Yun spat in annoyance at how bad these two were in regards to reacting to these kinds of situations. While they're loyalty was worthy of praise, it could also be said that they were loyal to a fault. A proper bodyguard would have at least conveyed her message to the higher ups but these two made no attempt to hide their disregard of Shi-Yun's warnings.

A heavy sigh escaped Shi-Yun's lips as she contemplated what her next move would be. To be honest, she had somewhat expected this kind of outcome before she had even arrived. This wasn't the first time that these two blockheads denied her access to speak with the elders. She knew this and yet at least wanted to try and get through to them without having to resort to the _alternative_ method.

Well, it was too late to go back now.

Instantly, Shi-Yun gathered a staggering amount of ki from the surrounding air and quickly purified it within her body, causing sparks of flames to appear from her body. This was known as the『 **Yunhon Spirit Technique** 』that allowed anyone from the Yunhonmoon to ignite the ki gathered into their bodies and set it ablaze. It was similar to the Chunbumoon's own spirit technique but while theirs was more attributed to refining and sharpening the ki gathered, the Yunhonmoon ignited it to allow the user the power of Pyrokinesis, or simply flame control.

Finally acknowledging her presence, the two guards were visibly shaken by the amount of pressure Shi-Yun was exhibiting and adopted fighting stances to brace themselves. However, they may as well have been children sent to fight a tiger with nothing but their bare hands.

A suicide mission.

"Forgive me but I have business in that room"

Faster than they could see, Shi-Yun became completely untraceable to the two guards and before they knew what just happened, they felt a burning sensation in their abdomens as Shi-Yun had landed both of her fists into their stomachs.

It was over before it even began as they simultaneously collapsed on the floor... at the exact same time... with the exact same motion. Shi-Yun narrowed her eyes at the spectacle as she deactivated the『 **Yunhon Spirit Technique** 』. Truthfully, she didn't need to activate the technique to deal with them but her pent up aggression had surfaced and taken over her reason.

She sighed as she realized she still needed more discipline before moving towards the door and gripping the handle. She hesitated for a second as she came to realize she was about to intrude on what could be an important meeting but steeled her nerves. There was no more time, she had to do this!

She let herself in and stopped abruptly when she noticed eight sets of eyes now gazing at her.

Sitting around a large round table were three adult men and one woman who all expressed suspicious looks at the now stiffen Shi-Yun. One of three gentlemen she faintly recalled but knew that he was a high ranking member of the Yunhonmoon that decided its policies and delegations.

Next to him was a man she was very familiar with and was the best instructor the clan had to offer. She had personally trained under him so her opinion of him was very high and always expressed due respect towards him.

Across from the two gentlemen was a woman who Shi-Yun had come to rely on during her childhood and was her mother figure that she loved dearly. It was her grandmother, Kwon Shi-Yan who was an executive member and married to the current head of the family and one of the only Shinin classed members of the clan, her grandfather Kwon Shi-Sen.

Shi-Yun swallowed her spit when her grandfather who was sitting at the front of the table cast a serious glare in her direction. Built like a man who never skipped a day at the gym, Shi-Sen was a physically dominating existence that had to be over six feet tall. He was wearing a tight white shirt and matching black jeans that did a poor job at hiding his overwhelming muscles. A lightning bolt shaped scar ran down from the left side of his face to the bottom of his jaw and a well groomed goatee was under his chin. His beautiful short silver hair was combed back into a well groomed brushed up style.

Looking over to the woman beside him, Shi-Yun observed her youthful grandmother who despite being alive for almost a century now, still retained the appearance of a gorgeous woman who was in her thirties. Wearing an unbuttoned white blouse that barely contained her ample cleavage; she sat cross legged with her black mini skirt showing off her smooth and sleek legs. She elegantly moved a strand of her beautiful crimson hair that was covering her face and directed a curious look towards the startled Shi-Yun.

The first to speak was none other than the head of the Yunhonmoon, Kwon Shi-Sen.

"Shi-Yun... what is the meaning of this interruption?"

His voice was powerful and commanding, like a seasoned veteran.

"Grandfather... that is... I have something very important to discuss with you that couldn't wait... please forgive me for interrupting!"

She deeply bowed her head as she finished her proclamation. Even though she couldn't see his face anymore, she knew that he was still casting his judgmental gaze towards her. How many times had she felt this man's powerful glare over her lifetime?

"Hou... important you say? It was so important that you felt the need to knock out the guards we posted outside? Is that what you are saying?"

Shi-Yun gulped internally. As she expected, her grandfather's perception was always one of his most noteworthy abilities.

"Y...Yes..."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Oi, brat. Since when does a child who's still in training have the authority to interrupt a meeting between us executives?"

That voice came from one of the two gentlemen sitting beside her grandfather. Shi-Yun's knowledge of this man was scarce at best as she knew that he was one of the few people in the Yunhonmoon that her grandfather and she herself respected and was well known for his tactfulness.

"Don't be like that now Sun-Lai, she's obviously come here for a good reason so why not hear her out?"

Sitting next to Sun-Lai who clicked his teeth when the man next to him spoke, was a man Shi-Yun was well acquainted with. His name was Kwon Shi-Mai and he was an old friend of her father's who had trained both her brother and herself in the art of the『 **Soul Blaze Fist** 』. In her father's absence, Shi-Yun saw Shi-Mai as not only a respectable older figure but also a goal she aimed to surpass in the near future.

Sun-Lai shot Shi-Mai a dirty look. "Her reasons are irrelevant; we were having an important discussion and this cheeky brat thinks she can waltz in here without even arranging a meeting beforehand? There's a limit to how impudent she can be!"

Sun-Lai raised his voice as he finished speaking and now directed a cold and spiteful glance towards the still bowing Shi-Yun.

Shi-Yun had to agree with him completely; what she was doing was unprecedented. Under normal circumstances, Shi-Yun would have made sure to have gotten authorization before appearing before the elders. However, the danger of the situation they could be facing now needed to disregard those rules.

"Just calm down and think about it for a minute. Shi-Yun is one of the most diligent members of our clan. Do you really think she would interrupt one of our meetings if she didn't have a very good reason for doing so?"

Sun-Lai eyebrows twitched as he stopped to consider Shi-Mai's words, recalling his several encounters with the red head. Though they were faint, he did remember her being extremely courteous whenever they greeted one another and showed impressive manners. He narrowed his eyes before the girl in question who had a few drips of sweat falling from her forehead and sighed.

"I suppose you do bring up a good point. Alright, let's hear what you have to say. Speak girl"

"T-Thank you very much!"

Shi-Yun's heart felt as if it was going to burst as she sighed in relief and rose to meet the elder's gaze.

"You don't have to be so tense, ya know? Loosen up Yun Yun"

Those sweet words came from Shi-Yun's youthful grandmother who now had a warm smile on her face.

"Y-Yes of course, grandmot-". She immediately paused as she noticed the twitch in her grandmother's face. "I-I mean Yan-nim".

If there was one thing that Shi-Yun knew about her grandmother, it was that calling her as such was a _very_ dangerous move and if you valued your life, would take note to never call her that. There wasn't a single person in the Yunhonmoon who didn't know of this woman's wrath.

Meanwhile, the head Shi-Sen glanced over at Shi-Yan who only shrugged her shoulders in response. In Shi-Yan's opinion, her grandaughter was too uptight for her own good and needed to stop being such a robot.

With the previously intense pressure slowly leaving the room, Shi-Yun explained to the elders what she had saw with her classmates not too long ago. As they listened to her report, doubtful gazes surfaced on their faces that Shi-Yun had been expecting. Of course, if she had heard of this herself she never would have believed it but she had seen it with her own eyes.

Sun-Lai snorted. "What foolishness are you spouting? It's inconceivable to think that there could be a crack in an Illusion Barrier"

Those harsh words came from Sun-Lai who was easily the most skeptical about Shi-Yun's story. No, that was inaccurate. You could easily say he thought she was speaking complete gibberish.

Shi-Yun bit her lip in frustration but continued to push. "Your doubts are understandable but I witnessed the disturbance first hand with my fellow students and I assure you that what I saw was no mistake!"

"If that was truly the case, not only us but also the Chunbumoon would have noticed such an event occurring" Shi-Mai who had been observing mostly folded his arms. "The fact that we have yet to hear from them makes your report hard to accept, Shi-Yun".

Though he would never believe Shi-Yun would try to deceive them, a crack appearing in the middle of the sky was a hard pill to swallow.

Shi-Yun's grandparents both kept a straight face as they traded looks between each other and then faced her again. Shi-Yun felt herself tense up at their passionate stares and felt the saliva in her mouth run dry. If she couldn't get them to believe her now then she feared something terrible was going to happen. Call it a premonition or a ominous feeling, Shi-Yun felt uneasy about it and prayed she could get through to them.

Without warning, Shi-Sen stood up and opened the large glass windows that were closed. He jumped outside, completely surprising all of the people inside the room except for Shi-Yan. In fact, a smile was plastered on her face as she shrugged her shoulders, watching her husband leave without any warning.

"That man is always so straightforward..."

Shi-Yan expressed before she got up herself and walked up towards Shi-Yun who was still taken back by the sudden development. She raised her hand and placed it on top of Shi-Yun's fiery red hair and pulled her face next to her's.

"We believe you"

That was all that escaped the woman's lips before she walked to the same window and jumped out herself.

"Wha... W-What the hell are those two thinking!"

Sun-Lai couldn't hide his anger anymore as he stood up and marched to the window and observed the two of them vanish before his eyes. He was about to go after the deserters before his attention was taken by the unforeseen irregularity that floated in the air. True to what Shi-Yun had reported, a crack that stretched for miles was clearly visible in the sky as Sun-Lai choked on his words.

"Wha...Wha... How..."

Calling it unbelievable was a grave understatement in Sun-Lai's mind as his head went into a frenzy at the view in front of him. He had brushed aside Shi-Yun's report as some childish rambling that held no truth or merit. Now that what she had been saying was proven to have actually happened, a heavy shame was placed upon Sun-Lai's shoulders as he, an elder of the Yunhonmoon had refused to listen to someone of his own blood. Though he'd never admit it, he was somewhat fond of Shi-Yun and was noticeably stricter on her if only because he wanted her to be disciplined and not turn out like her barbaric brother. Perhaps somewhere along the line he had lost sight why he was strict with her in the first place and mistook that as unreasonable contempt.

"My my, it looks like Shi-Yun was right"

That relaxed way of speaking came from Shi-Mai as he also now directed his gaze towards the crack in the sky. Of course, he wasn't as surprised as Sun-Lai since he believed in Shi-Yun from the beginning but held his suspicions until her report was confirmed.

"Lai-nim, how shall the clan proceed?"

Shi-Yun's voice caused Shi-Mai to turn his attention towards her along with Sun-Lai who wasn't completely over over his shock but had noticeably calmed down.

"Hmm..."

The calm Shi-Mai brought a hand to his chin and began to devise the best way to approach the situation. Since the head and his lady had already began the investigation, the most sensible thing to do would be to inform the rest of the clan and gather any capable combatants to assist. There was no guarantee there was an enemy to be fought but it never hurt to have a contingency plan ready just in case. He relayed these thoughts to Shi-Yun who nodded affirmatively, quickly bowing before the two remaining elders and left the room to join her grandparents.

Shi-Mai directed his gaze to Sun-Lai who kept his head down and breathed out a heavy sigh as moved a strand of his glossy crimson hair out of his face.

"Even though you've treated her like that, she still holds alot of respect for you. I hope you don't forsake that"

Sun-Lai felt a needle was jabbed into his stomach at those words while he looked at the door where Shi-Yun had left. The one thing in the world that Sun-Lai never wanted to lose was the respect of that young girl. He acted and behaved in a way that would make sure she always saw him as a respectable authority figure. He couldn't believe he was stupid enough not to realize that by acting the way he did now, he was precisely doing what he feared most, if only bit by bit.

He had to fix this.

Suddenly, he stood up without a moment's notice and made his way towards a speaker phone that was installed in a corner of the room.

He grabbed it and spoke. "All able members of the Yunhonmoon who are not undergoing treatment, report to the central board room for an important announcement. Those who are even late by even a second shall feel the wrath of my iron claw, is that understood!?"

Shi-Mai who had been observing his long time friend could only smile with a sympathetic face before he took a glance at the open window where the crack was visible. He narrowed his eyes as he sported a frown and hoped that the ominous feeling he was getting was nothing to be concerned about.

Of course, Shi-Mai or anyone else would have no idea at the time that the events that would transpire today would greatly affect the course of all the clans of Seoul.

* * *

 **【** **Inside the Illusion Barrier** **】**

" _Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa_ "

An ear shattering roar erupted from inside the Illusion Barrier as the troll zombie repeatedly kept punching the invisible border of the transparent dimension. With every solid punch it landed, more and more cracks began to form around the perimeter that surrounded most of the city block.

"I won't let you!"

Sung-Gong who had been charging at the relentless beast exclaimed as his body moved with lightning speed. The troll immediately noticed the incoming presence and turned its body now to face him, an action that surprised Sung-Gong at the beast's surprising swiftness.

A dark smile appeared on its disgusting face as it breathed in a heavy amount of ai arnd released it as a tunnel of black fog towards the incoming Sung-Gong. He barely had enough time to dodge the blast as he twisted his body to the side, narrowly avoiding the toxins.

Sung-Gong landed on the ground and skid across the floor as he watched the black fog reach a building nearby and completely cover it within its volume. It only took a few seconds before the entire structure was dissolved and a puddle of acid was left of it.

" _It wouldn't be funny if that stuff even grazed me..._ " Not just because the suit he was wearing was one of his favorites but because he wanted to keep himself from becoming swamp juice.

Sung-Gong gazed back at the troll who had began chuckling at seeing its handy work and narrowed his eyes. So the beast not only had enough intelligence to perceive him as a threat but also had an ego on its head.

" _What a troublesome fellow"_ Sung-Gong thought as he sighed and then stood up. He rummaged through his pockets before pulling out a cell phone. As he dialed some buttons and brought it to his ear, his attention immediately refocused on an incoming sludge of mud that was headed his way.

" _Son of a...!_ "

Sung-Gong cursed inwardly as he jumped up but wasn't careful and dropped his phone within the contents of the acid, now annoyed that his very expensive phone had been reduced to sludge. He had been hoping to call for some reinforcements but that plan was quickly tossed thanks to the troublesome troll who as expected, was giggling at Sung-Gong's misfortune. The act was made even more disturbing by the fact that every time it laughed, specs of dirt would fly out of its mouth and a toxic smell covered its entire body. If it wasn't for Sung-Gong learning how to control his sense of what his nose could smell, he would have passed out a long time ago.

Realizing that the troll zombie wasn't an enemy that he could afford to play around with, Sung-Gong's adjusted his black shades as his body began to levitate off the ground. He rose with a stable speed and hovered himself quite a few feet over the troll zombie who titled its head in utter confusion, wondering what its prey was doing.

"You've really done it now you disgusting vile of filth. I'll make sure there's not a speck of your putrid body left when I'm done with you"

The air around Sung-Gong shifted and a cold shiver ran down the troll zombie's back as he saw a dark aura envelop Sung-Gong. It covered his entire body and looked as if it was trying to swallow him as a frightening smirk appeared on his face.

The troll zombie panicked and went back to trying to destroy the Illusion Barrier before Sung-Gong had a chance to unleash whatever it was he was hiding.

Noticing this, Sung-Gong clicked his teeth and had come to admire the zombie's tactfulness when it came to quick decision making. Of course, he wasn't planning on showing the beast any mercy and planned to completely annihilate it. He raised one of his arms forward and concentrated a great deal of magic within it.

"『 **Shadow Prison** 』"

At his command, a sea of dark shadows exploded from his palm and made its way over towards the panicking troll zombie. It must have realized that whatever Sung-Gong had released was something that endangered its life and it began to howl in a frustrated tone.

Sung-Gong watched with pleasure until he noticed the zombie do something quite out of the ordinary. Like before, it inhaled a large amount of air but this time it spit out noticeably larger balls of sludge in random directions, as if it had gone mad. Sung-Gong brushed aside its futile attempts as nothing more than a childish tantrum and focused his shadows on the large body of the zombie.

"『 **Restrict** 』"

The shadows heaved his orders and then surrounded the troll on all sides. It began to morph and formed what appeared to be a black cage that was barely big enough to contain the beast as it was squished inside.

This was an advanced skill that Sung-Gong had mastered years ago for the exact purpose of capturing powerful monsters to use for his extractions.『 **Dark Arts: Shadow Prison** 』was a technique that allowed the user to manipulate shadows to their will and could create a cage made out of darkness. The cage was impervious to damage since shadows had no physical form so it couldn't be touched. One of the reasons why Sung-Gong favored the skill so much was because it allowed him to trap any vermin he wanted and watch as they squirmed helplessly, unable to escape his clutches.

The troll zombie roared even louder and desperately tried to escape but it was no use, the cage couldn't be broken.

"Squeeze"

At that command, the cage began to shrink slowly as the zombie had no ways of stopping its impending doom. It's body began to contract and pieces of dirt started breaking from its swamp like body. It didn't take a minute before its entire body that was well over ten meters in height to shrink down to the size of an average person and looked like someone had a little too much fun playing with a bunch of play-doh.

Satisfied with his work, Sung-Gong descended to the ground right in front of the zombie and wore a prideful smirk. He had to admit that the zombie had given him a cause for alarm when it had begun to destroy his illusion barrier but of course, he knew it never actually stood a chance when he got a bit serious. His power at the moment was at best 30 % of what it was originally due to the seal chain that was absorbing his power. In other words, he couldn't use any more than the 30 % unless he wanted to disrupt the chain's powers.

"I should be able to gather a staggering amount of souls by extracting this beast. How convenient, it did most of the work for me" he mused as he raised his left arm to proceed with the extraction.

Before he could do so however, his senses swiftly perceived an incoming attack and he immediately distanced himself from the captured beast. Unfortunately, Sung-Gong was a second too late as his right arm was covered in acidic and he winced heavily at the stinging pain. It was almost unbearable as the toxic sludge had begun to dissolve the skin of his arm, a sight that Sung-Gong wasn't too fond of.

" _Shit! I was too careless! Who the hell could have done such a...what!?"_

Redirecting his attention towards the source of the attack, Sung-Gong could only stare dumbfounded at the unbelievable seen before him. Another troll zombie whose size was about 1/4th of the original was standing in the middle of a street, cackling at its successful hit. As Sung-Gong couldn't understand the reason why another troll zombie had been born, he looked over the entire city block and shuddered when he saw three more similar zombies that were scattered around. They were the same size as the one that hit him and were slowly moving towards each other.

" _But how... where did they come fro...!? Wait... it must have been at that time!"_

A daunting realization hit Sung-Gong as felt his mouth run dry and sweat fell from his face. He unfortunately recalled the original troll zombie firing off several balls of sludge before it was captured by his『 **Shadow Prison** 』. He had brushed those off as nothing more than as a desperate last ditch effort but he now came to understand that the troll zombie had noticed its soon to be demise and split itself into four separate beings. Sung-Gong was speechless regarding the zombie's instincts towards survival and how intuitive it was when forced into a corner.

"I really screwed up..."

Sung-Gong wanted to like slap himself for how careless he had been during this battle. He completely failed to notice that the troll was _far_ more intelligent than he gave it credit for and as such, he paid the price. His right hand was still slowly being corroded away and it felt as if a thousand needles were piercing his skin simultaneously. Thankfully, he had built a protective wall around his body using his mana so the corrosion was heavily suppressed but it was only a matter of time before his right hand would fall victim to the toxins.

Deciding to put an end to it before it would spread to his entire arm, he gathered mana in his free arm and made a blade of shadows that was sharpened at the top. In one quick motion, he cut his hand off right above the wrist and quickly reached into his pocket to pull out a『Medium Grade - Recovery Potion』to tend to his wound. Thanks to the restorative properties of the potion, the bleeding had completely stopped and his arm was beginning to heal itself, though he would have to work on recreating it at a later time.

He had much more important things to worry about at the moment. As he looked over his current condition and then back at the now four separate troll zombies, only one word ran through his mind.

Pathetic.

That single word echoed throughout Sung-Gong's head as he reviewed the current situation for himself. Though he defeated the original troll zombie, four more had taken its place who had all assembled together and were standing side by side, mocking Sung-Gong who could only produce a pained expression at the spectacle. How did a man as powerful as he allow himself to be put on the ropes by a bunch of walking pieces of garbage?

" _If only I could use my full strength..._ "

It was almost instantaneous but he absently wondered how satisfying it would have been to use his full strength against the troll and watch it crumble before him but quickly shook his head and cast aside the foolish act. The person he was using that stored energy for was _far_ more important than his own well being and he would rather die than use that precious energy he's saved for them.

He had to think of another solution. Looking at one of the rings on his finger, an annoyed frown appeared on his face.

" _So its come to this..."_ Since『 **Shadow Prison** 』failed to have any effect, this next skill should be able to take care of the quadruplets.

Unfortunately, the troll zombies weren't going to allow him such an opportunity for him as they all began assaulting the still recovering Sung-Gong. Swamps of acid were rapidly fired out of their mouths and aimed directly at him who clicked his teeth and held his free arm up.

"Tch...『 **Shadow Guard!** 』"

Sung-Gong activated the skill and a wall of shadows appeared in front of him, absorbing the sludge into its depths. The zombies took note of their attacks being ineffective and ceased their fire, grumbling a bunch of nonsense that Sung-Gong couldn't understand. Whatever they were talking about, Sung-Gong wasn't interested in as he needed to quickly prepare his next move.

" _I don't have much mana left... this'll probably be my last attack"_

One of Sung-Gong's biggest weaknesses was simply his lack of mana reserves. To make up for his scarcity of mana, he purchased familiars and low cost skills that wouldn't require him to use an excessive amount of his mana. Of course, they weren't cheap and cost quite a pretty penny but such trivial matters were irrelevant to him as he was very resourceful when it came to making money.

As Sung-Gong had decided what to do next, he noticed that the troll zombies had come to a consensus to ignore him and went back to trying to destroy the Illusion Barrier. Sung-Gong's eyebrows twitched at the unexpected decision and several veins appeared on his forehead. It was bad enough that he was struggling against such inferior creatures but to think that they had the nerve to _dare_ ignore the Black Summoner?

This was the last straw.

"I'm going to shred you bastards to dust!"

His voice was notably louder than usual and he held out his free arm, letting mana flow into the ring on his index finger. This was going to take a few seconds to activate and when it did, he would settle this.

As he looked back at the troll zombies still attacking the illusion barriers, what he saw snapped Sung-Gong out of his rage and his face paled. It only now became apparent to him that number of troll zombies was reduced to three and the fourth one had disappeared.

Immediately sensing an ominous presence behind him, he swiftly turned his neck to see the nightmare he was hoping to avoid stare at him with its unhealthy rotting eyes, a dark distorted grin on its face.

He had been outsmarted.

Sung-Gong understood now that when they were talking earlier, it wasn't just some random mumbling. They were discussing their next strategy and settled on a pincer attack where three of them would act as distractions while one of them would sneak up behind Sung-Gong while he was focusing on the others. It was a flawless battle plan that Sung-Gong never even considered as a possibility and inwardly cursed himself for his unforgivable mistake. This was the third time he had been fooled by the zombies.

The nearby zombie pulled its arm back and sent it forward to collide with Sung-Gong's face, its intention to completely crush Sung-Gong under its mighty fist. Normally, Sung-Gong would never be worried of an attack of that caliber but in his weakened state where his concentration was out of sorts and his mana had been mostly depleted, he feared he would suffer heavy damage from that attack, probably enough to take him out of the fight.

If that was the case, he had no doubt that the troll zombies would finish him off and make their way towards the real world by shattering his Illusion Barrier. The dreadful thought made Sung-Gong worry about the chaos that would transpire if that were to come to fruition.

" _I can't afford to die here... not until I save Sung-Ah!_ "

That single thought enveloped his mind as the face of his beautiful but sickly daughter appeared in his head. She was the one who gave him the strength to live on even after his wife had passed away. She was the one who smiled and wished him well to work every morning and welcomed him home every night. She was the one who took care of him and got him to stop smoking in order to preserve his lungs.

She was his entire world and he had done everything he could to help her get better. Taking on several highly difficult missions to afford surgery for her, contracting with several shady organizations to receive recovery potions, and now risking his life to extract the souls of zombies to save his weakened sunshine. It was all for her, he would try any method no matter how hopeless to save her. However, it seemed as if all of his efforts were about to be destroyed by his own carelessness at handling the situation.

If he had only been more cautious, if he had only called for reinforcements earlier, if he had only listened to the clan elders about the repercussions. Sung-Gong had come to regret alot of the decisions he had made in the past few months but the one he regretted the most was that he was unable to give Sung-Ah the thing she deserved the most.

Her happiness.

" _I'm sorry Sung-Ah... your father is pathetic and he's let you down... please forgive me"_

Those were the last thoughts that entered his mind as the troll zombie's punch was only a split second away from colliding with his face until...

 **Shatter!**

The air only a few feet away from Sung-Gong and the zombie cracked wide open like a wall of glass and from it, three individuals appeared inside and rushed towards Sung-Gong.

"Hah!"

"Yah!"

"Hiya!"

Simultaneously, the three individuals moved at untraceable speeds and delivered a triple executed attack which consisted of a roundhouse kick, a straight jab, and a left hook towards the troll zombie that almost hit Sung-Gong.

" _Graaaaaaaa!?_ "

The impact of their attacks clearly left their mark as the zombie was sent flying backwards, crashing into several buildings. A dead silence followed the aftermath of their conjoined attacks as the three remaining troll zombies were flabbergasted at what just occurred to one of their brethren.

Landing in front of Sung-Gong who was as puzzled as the zombies was a man with green hair, a woman with navy blue hair, and another woman with crimson red hair. The woman with red hair took a quick glance at the now sitting Sung-Gong and scowled as she shot him a piercing glare before she turned around to ignore him. Ignoring that, Sung-Gong instantly recognized the three of them as Sun-Il, Sae-Young, and Shi-Yun; members of both the Chunbumoon and the Yunhonmoon. Though he wasn't complaining about their assistance, the question of how in the world did they even get here raced in his mind.

"Yo, teach!"

Finally noticing the last individual, Sung-Gong turned his attention towards a student he knew well from his own class and a man with a very mysterious power, Han Jee-Han.

"Why... how did you all get here?" His curious words were lacking any form of the calm and cool attitude he usually presented.

Jee-Han sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he pointed towards the open crack in Sung-Gong's Illusion Barrier. There, several individuals were gathered that Sung-Gong was acquainted with. The head's of both the Chunbumoon and the Yunhonmoon along with several high ranking members of said clan were now standing outside of the corners of the Illusion Barrier. It was quite the spectacle to see two clans who had been considered rivals join forces in such a way.

"Your Illusion Barrier was falling apart and so we decided to see what the commotion was all about. Still, to see someone of your caliber in such a pathetic state..." Shi-Sen frowned. "My opinion of you has fallen, Black Summoner"

Those harsh words came out from the head of the Yunhonmoon, Kwon Shi-Sen.

"I was surprised as well. Surely the adversary he had been facing must have been quite something"

This time, the head of the Chunbumoon Shin Sun-Oh had spoken as he stroked his front beard.

The two of them were standing next to each other and quickly stole glances at one another, glaring the other down as the people around them felt a bit underwhelmed by their obvious contempt for the other. Whereas Sun-Oh respected Sung-Gong, Shi-Sen had never liked the man but did acknowledge his strength.

Both Sun-Il and Shi-Yun sighed as they watched their grandfathers have a stare down with the other but quickly turned their attention towards the enemies before them. Having gotten over their early shock, the troll zombies had already begun planning their next move.

"Grandfather!"

The two of them exclaimed at the same time towards the bickering heads.

"We'll settle this another time, you old fart"

"Heh, I wouldn't have it any other way"

At that, the two instructed those behind them to begin repairing the Illusion Barrier.

As Sung-Gong was a bit confused to what kind of development this battle had taken, he decided it was best to inform Jee-Han and his companions of how dangerous the troll zombies were. Before he could get the chance however...

"Alright, you just sit back and get some rest teach. We'll handle those guys, right?"

Jee-Han exclaimed as he looked towards the three participants who had adopted fighting positions in front of him.

"Hmm... since when was our little gamer boy Jee-Han important enough to give us commands?"

The teasing came from Sae-Young who spotted a foxy smile towards the now stiffen Jee-Han.

"Well... I uhh... thought we already decided that you guys would lead the charge while I supported from the rear... right?"

His previous confidence was nowhere to be found.

Shi-Yun nodded at that. "That's correct. We all decided that since you were not strong enough to help us in the front, you'd assist us from the back at a safe distance."

Though they held no malice or contempt, those words from Shi-Yun who spoke in such a roundabout way hurt Jee-Han the most as he dropped his shoulders. She didn't have to make it sound as if he was almost completely worthless...

Sun-Il chuckled. "You heard it from the princess herself, we'll take the frontal assault Jee-Han. You do what you do best and help us with those spells you got, alright?"

Jee-Han sighed as he accepted his best friend's words. I suppose he should be grateful that he was allowed to participate at all considering the circumstances. The compensation he was going to receive from today's battle was enough to spark a fire in Jee-Han's body as he narrowed his determined eyes towards the remaining three enemies before him and adopted a confident smile.

"Let's raise some hell!"

* * *

 **A/N: At chapter 10's conclusion, only the finale remains! This was the longest chapter to date that I've written for this story so I hope that you guys enjoyed its length. So as we found out, Sung-Gong's motivation for creating Illusion Barriers with zombies for his daughter, Sung-Ah (anyone who read the webcomic would already know this). Now that Jee-Han is here, we'll finally get to see his gamer powers showcase in front of the elders and maybe even someone else.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Zombie Slayer》 **  
****Level:** 16

 **HP:** 890/890 **  
** **MP:** 1230/1230  
 **  
** **STR:** 26 **  
** **VIT:** 26 **  
** **DEX:** 21 **  
** **INT:** 60 **  
** **WIS:** 15 **  
** **LUK:** 9

 **Points:** 0 **  
** **Money:** ₩503,000

* * *

 **《Skills》**

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 3  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1

 **Defensive:**  
• Mana Shield (Active) | Lv: 1

 **Support:  
** • Observe (Active) | Lv: 5  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 4  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 2  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive) | Lvl: 4

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 3  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 1  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 2

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active) | Lv: 2  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 1


	11. (Arc 1 Finale) Chapter 11

**A/N: The finale has cometh!**

 **It's been a long road but we've finally reached the last chapter of the 1st arc of the story. Once again, I'm really thankful towards all of you who've continued to read my story and your reviews always bring a smile to my face.**

 **NinjaFang1331: Thanks! Things are definitely looking different and you'll see that in this week's chapter!**

 **Guest 2: Your praise is very much appreciated. I'll do my best to meet your expectations!**

 **Dulemina: Your very welcome!**

 **Claw Reacher: Those ideas are definitely interesting and I'll keep them in mind. Mana armor sounds like something Jee-Han would think of for more defence while Mana weapons is a concept I was actually working on myself. The reason why he hasn't actually tried them is because he's been a bit preoccupied. Once things settle down, he'll fully explore more of his powers.**

 **With that said, let's jump right in!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manhwa written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Arc 1: Finale**

 **Chapter 11**

 ** _Let's rewind a bit before Jee-Han and the others had arrived to help Sung-Gong._**

 **【** **10:15 AM, Near the Illusion Barrier** **】**

"S-Slow... _pant..._ down!"

Jee-Han's muffled voice rang out to the several individuals in front of him who tried tune out his whining.

"Hah? If we don't go at this pace we'll never make it there in time. It's not our fault you can't keep up, slow poke"

Jee-Han's eyebrows twitched in annoyance at the less than welcoming reply from Sun-Il who was keeping a steady pace ahead and wasn't short a single breath. He had been training his stamina ever since he was just a kid; running at this speed for hours was child's play for him.

"Come on now Jee-Han, show us the power of a natural ability user!"

That voice came from the excited Sae-Young who was moving next to Sun-Il, not even bothering to hide the mockery in her tone. The thought of being tired or exhausted was a foreign concept to this woman as her toned legs carried her on. Being an Olympic athlete that ran marathons as a warm-up, it came as no surprise to Jee-Han that she wasn't even the slightest bit fatigued.

Jee-Han was bothered at how they were making fun of the fact that despite being a natural ability user, he was still weaker than both of them by a large margin. Well, it wasn't like he could disagree with that notion. Getting his powers only recently, the idea of suddenly becoming the strongest badass around was a far cry from reality. Someday however, he would definitely make sure to flaunt his awesomeness in their faces. That'd show em.

"This just shows that the boy lacks proper training. It seems as if we'll have to give him the baby course to get started" Sun-Oh who had been travelling along with them by jumping from rooftops nearby proclaimed as Sun-Il and Sae-Young both snickered.

"Like hell you will!"

Jee-Han's nagging was ignored as they continued down the empty streets to the source of the rip in the dimension. Sae-Young had already taken the initiative in creating an Illusion Barrier so that they wouldn't be spotted by normal civilians who lived in this area. That was only a temporary solution however, as they still needed to deal with the giant rip in the sky that was getting larger by the second.

" _I sense Sung-Gong's presence within that barrier... could he... "_ Sun-Oh frowned as he recalled his talk with the Black Summoner. If memory served right, he had made sure to warn him of the possible consequences of his soul gathering and it seemed that he was right to do so. A sigh came from the elder's mouth at the troublesome development and he made a note to scold the man for causing such a mess.

"Hey, gramps!" Jee-Han called as he had finally decided to activate the『 **Chunbu Foot Technique** 』to not get left behind. "We'll be in trouble with Gaia if that Illusion Barrier is broken right?"

Sun-Oh turned his attention to Jee-Han who had caught up with Sae-Young and Sun-Il, giving him a slight nod.

"Correct. One of Gaia's founding philosophies is that the super natural should never become public, no matter the circumstance."

A worrisome look appeared on Jee-Han's face as he remembered Sun-Il's warning regarding those who tried to use their powers to affect the real world. If that Illusion Barrier broke and whatever monsters inside decided to come out, just how would Gaia deal with the situation? More importantly, in what way would a man as powerful as Sung-Gong suffer under Gaia's judgment? The mere thought made Jee-Han's spine crawl.

"We'll need to create a shield to contain that crack so that even if it should break, the contents of whatever is inside would not leak to the real world"

Sun-Il had now joined the conversation and offered his input.

"Hou..." Sun-Oh gave Sun-Il an approving look. "As expected of my grandson"

Sun-Il could only produce a genuine smile as he blushed at the compliment. Sae-Young noticed this and elbowed him on how it wasn't fair to get ahead. Yes, she too was competing with Sun-Il for the spot of becoming the Chunbumoon's official head but it could be said that she was fighting a losing battle. Sun-Oh had already named Sun-Il as his successor years ago and she took the news pretty hard but got over it when she resolved herself to change Sun-Oh's mind before the inheritance ceremony.

Jee-Han was clueless to how their system worked but understood at the very least that while they were cousins, they were also rivals. If it was from his own opinion, he believed Sae-Young to be stronger than Sun-Il and just in case, decided to inspect her.

"Observe"

 **Name:** Poong Sae-Young **  
** **Class:** Chunbumoon's Champion **  
** **Title:** 《Charismatic Brawler》 **  
** **Level:** 36

 **STR:** 82 **  
** **VIT:** 95 **  
** **DEX:** 82 **  
** **INT:** 26 **  
** **WIS:** 11 **  
** **LUK:** 35

 **EXP Level:** 0.00 %

" _What are these beastly like stats!?_ "

Jee-Han almost tripped on his own two feet as he basked in Sae-Young's remarkable stats. If these were accurate, it would make her almost _twice_ as strong as Sun-Il and over four times stronger than himself. Just imagining what it would feel like taking a serious punch from her made him shudder in fear. What was she, some sort of super amazon?

Looking at the "SP" stat, Jee-Han had a proud smile on his face at how now he could finally see those beautiful numbers. When he had visited the Chunbumoon earlier with Sun-Il, he immediately requested the man to teach him the『 **Spirit Channel** 』and fortunately, Sun-Il had a book on it. He wasted no time in absorbing it and learned how to utilize chi, though he was still a novice at it. He really had to thank Gaia for giving him such a convenient power, it really rocked!

Focusing back on Sae-Young who was running in front of him and chatting with Sun-Il, Jee-Han's attention was drawn to her plump rear and slick thighs as he felt his face redden from embarrassment. He didn't know whether to thank Sae-Young for such a delicious view or to curse her for trying to unconsciously seduce him in a situation like this. Even though he knew it was wrong, he kept his eyes firmly glued on her rear when suddenly...

 **«Ding!»**

 **A skill has been created through a special act! Through continuous observation of a female's body, "Perverted Gaze", has been created.**

『 **Perverted Gaze (Passive) Lvl 1: EXP: 0.00%** 』

 **A skill created by "The Gamer" to stare perversely at a member of the opposite sex.**

" _What the fuck!?"_

Jee-Han went into frenzy at what his powers had bestowed upon him and deleted the forbidden skill immediately, ignoring the odd looks coming from Sae-Young and Sun-Il. He awkwardly laughed as he scratched the back of his head and kept his head down to avoid their stares, especially Sae-Young's. He would never admit to her that admiring her well shaped ass had given him a new skill. He'd take that secret to the grave.

Sun-Oh observed the antics of the boy and just raised his eyebrow in utter confusion. Trying to figure out what went on in the head of a game freak like Jee-Han was task too daunting even for the old man.

The rest of trip was spent in silence as Jee-Han constantly tried to change subjects, if only to get his mind off of that dangerous skill.

Almost half an hour later, the four of them arrived in the middle of a town square that was eerily quiet and had finally made it to where the crack had originally formed. Now that they were this close to it, it came as a shock at the sheer size of how large the crack had become. It must have stretched for miles and didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon.

"Man, look at that thing. Whatever caused that must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed" Sae-Young mused.

Sun-Il stretched his arms. "I'll bet. It's probably going to be a pain in the ass to deal with."

Jee-Han was the only one among them who looked visibly paranoid as he checked over every corner, as if he was expecting some sort of bogey man to appear and try to scare him.

Sun-Oh frowned at watching the boy. "We'd pick up anything that would try to do us harm so calm down already. It's pathetic."

Jee-Han shot the old man an annoyed glare before sighing and accepting his words. Getting this worked up would serve no purpose so he could agree with the elder on that one. Though, calling him pathetic was still something he gritted his teeth about.

Finishing his stretches, Sun-Il walked up to his grandfather.

"How should we proceed?" The atmosphere around him changed as Sun-Il's eyebrows narrowed, as if he had turned on a switch of some sort. Jee-Han had rarely seen Sun-Il looking that serious and understood that it was time to get down to business.

Sun-Oh nodded and then looked towards the rip.

"First of all we should-

He stopped mid sentence as he along with Sae-Young and Sun-Il picked up on various presences heading in their direction. Sun-Oh already predicted who was coming while Sun-Il and Sae-Young kept on guard. Jee-Han on the other hand had absolutely no clue as to why they were showing such hostility and gulped internally as his eye flickered in every direction. Having no way of detecting approaching enemies was too inconvenient as he contemplated a way of solving that issue.

At that thought, an idea popped into Jee-Han's head.

" _If it's my powers then maybe..._ "

Thinking there was no harm in testing it out, Jee-Han closed his eyes and tried to utilize his inner ki. Sun-Il had explained early on that one of the skills that ki users were able to pick up was the ability to detect another person's life energy and measure their total amount of ki. It was a tricky skill to master that took several months if not years of dedicated training to learn. Of course, that restriction didn't apply to Jee-Han believed he could acquire the skill as easily as breathing in and out.

" _Come on Gaia, don't let me down now! Try to sense other presences... detect... detect_ " Those words echoed throughout every corner of Jee-Han's mind until a notification popped up.

 **«** **Ding!** **»**

 **A skill has been created through a special act! Through continuous utilization of ki to sense another being's own ki, "Sensory", has been created.**

『 **Sensory (Passive) Lvl MAX: EXP: 0.00%** 』

 **A skill created by "The Gamer" to detect the presence of nearby individuals and measure their total amount of ki.**

"Hell yes!" Jee-Han exclaimed triumphantly as he clenched his fists and a wide grin appeared on his face. They seriously needed to nerf his powers, this was just too unfair.

The three Chunbumoon's concentration was broken by Jee-Han's loud voice and they all shot him irked glares. Jee-Han waved an apologetic hand while forcing a smile to seethe their anger.

Sun-Oh sighed as he cracked his neck to the side and huffed. Some things would never change.

Jee-Han definitely wanted to try this skill out and closed his eyes, trying to utilize his new skill. In doing so, it was as if a radar had been drawn in his mind as he saw several white dots appear in numerous locations. He understood quickly that the three white dots closest to him were obviously Sun-Il, Sae-Young, and Sun-Oh but he didn't recognize the various white dots heading in his direction. There had to be at least twenty of them and they were moving at an incredible speed.

What terrified Jee-Han more than that were the levels of ki that were coming from two individuals that were ahead of the pack. Comparing it to the levels of the others was a bad joke.

"Guys, we've got company!" He wasted no time in informing the others of the situation.

"We know" Sun-Il stated, the sharpness of his eyes never wavering for a second. He had not been surprised when Jee-Han had now learned to be able to sense presences and had already expected Gaia's hand in this.

A dark smile appeared on Sae-Young's face. "Are they enemies?" Jee-Han thought she seemed a little too excited at that last mention.

Sun-Oh shook his head. "Not exactly"

Spontaneously, several unfamiliar strangers landed a few feet away from Jee-Han and the others. There were at least eight people gathered now, both men and woman alike and standing at the head of them were three people, one of them both Sun-Il and Jee-Han recognized immediately.

"S-Shi-Yun!" Jee-Han happily exclaimed as the woman in question finally noticed his presence and bowed in his direction.

Though she seemed a bit surprised that Jee-Han was actually present, she inclined her head respectfully towards her classmate. "I see you have also decided to come, Han Jee-Han"

The head of the Yunhonmoon, Kwon Shi-Sen took notice of his granddaughter's familiarly with the unknown boy but decided it wasn't worth looking into at the moment and directed his hardened gaze at the man he knew all too well, Shin Sun-Oh.

Time just seemed to stop as the two stared at one another from across the square and the other lower ranked members of the Yunhonmoon could feel the rising tension. It was common knowledge that both heads of the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon had been long time rivals and had competed with one another for decades. It could even be said that both clans were born directly out of the fierce rivalry between these two staggering veterans.

The first to break the silence was none other than Shi-Sen. "Time hasn't been kind to you, my old friend. Look at you, I'm surprised you can even leave your bed with that relic you call a body"

Sun-Oh snorted. "Forgive me, but not all of us can pretend to be younger than we really are. It really is a shame that even through all these years, your mind is still as childish as it was when I last saw you"

Sparks were seen flying between the two as their eyes held such hostility towards the other that several people flinched at their subtle verbal confrontation. Shi-Yan who was standing next to her husband just sighed and shrugged her shoulders. No matter how much time passed, the two of them simply couldn't hold a decent conversation.

Over on Jee-Han's side, he had been relieved that the people he were sensing were Shi-Yun's clan mates and sighed in relief while Sun-Il returned to his calm and collected self. The only one who seemed to be displeased with the current development was Sae-Young. From what Jee-Han could tell by her terrifying grin, she was hoping they were enemies as she wanted to crush them. Seriously, he wondered just what type of woman got excited with this kind of stuff but such dangerous thoughts quickly left his mind.

Shi-Sen stopped starring at the fossil of a man and turned his sights to the three brats standing near Sun-Oh. He already recognized two of them from his faint visits to the Chunbumoon dojo and was well aware that they were two of the most capable combatants the Chunbumoon had to offer. Of course, he would never believe they were more skilled than his own granddaughter but he at least respected their talents.

The third individual that Shi-Sen noticed was someone that made a question mark pop into his head as to the identity of this unfamiliar boy. Was he associated with the Chunbumoon? If so, why hadn't he seen this boy before? If he was such an important member that the old fart would bring him on a mission of this scale, surely he had to be worth the effort. However, no matter what angle Shi-Sen observed him from, the boy looked no different than an average high school student. He didn't even have a shred of decent muscle on him so he couldn't be much of a martial artist. Just who was this boy?

Jee-Han felt an immense pressure swell up at the strong gaze the unknown man standing before him cast. It wasn't just his physical appearance; even the air itself around them seemed to be terrified of this man as his mere presence made it difficult to concentrate.

"W-Who's that?" He asked no one in particular.

"That is the head of the Yunhonmoon, Kwon Shi-Sen. He's been gramps' rival long before the two of us were even alive" Sun-Il responded as he cast an observing glance at the towering man. Even though he had already acquainted himself with the man already, his presence was still as overwhelming as ever.

Jee-Han sighed in amazement. "So he must be a monster too..."

Sun-Oh chuckled. "Not just him, but the woman standing over there as well. She's that classmate of your's grandmother so don't be fooled by her appearance."

Jee-Han was a bit taken back when he discovered that the drop dead gorgeous woman with a super model body who was standing next to Shi-Yun was actually her grandmother. He assumed she was her sister or even mother, but grandmother? Jee-Han instantly recognized that she must have been a woman who took great pride in feeling "youthful".

Over on the Yunhonmoon's side, Shi-Sen recalled Shi-Yun's earlier greeting with the boy and took it upon himself to end his curiosity.

"Shi-Yun"

"Y-Yes?" Shi-Yun stiffened at his unexpected call.

"Are you acquainted with that boy standing over there?"

Shi-Yun looked confused by his sudden question and wondered why her grandfather was interested in Jee-Han before she decided to get to answering him.

"Yes. His name is Han Jee-Han, one of my classmates."

Shi-Yan who standing next to her husband looked fairly amused as a mischievous grin appeared on her face. "One of your classmates you say?"

Unlike Shi-Sen, Shi-Yan's gaze towards Jee-Han was filled with playful interest as she wondered what kind of relationship he had with her Yun-Yun, since the girl wasn't much of sociable person.

Shi-Sen's eyes now glanced at his granddaughter. "Is he powerful?"

Shi-Yun immediately shook her head to deny the notion, an act that made Shi-Sen and Shi-Yan both raise their eyebrows at the quick denial.

"From what I observed, he is not a martial artist. He is also not an official member of the Chunbumoon but he has close ties with their heir, Shin Sun-Il... however..." Shi-Yun looked like she had a hard time saying the last part of her words.

"However?" Shi-Sen frowned at Shi-Yun's hesitation. Just what was she trying to say? Shi-Yan's eyes clearly showed visible curiosity as well as the woman listened intensively as to the identity of the boy.

"He seems to be a natural ability user"

Simultaneously, both Shi-Sen and Shi-Yan's eyebrows twitched and then they turned to face Jee-Han, narrowing their intensified eyes.

"Hoho..."

If they weren't curious about Jee-Han before, they definitely were now as the news of a mysterious natural ability user having affiliations with the Chunbumoon was enough to get their attention.

Sun-Oh frowned when Shi-Yun had revealed Jee-Han's secret and he turned to look at the boy who was still fidgeting from being observed at by two clan heads. He was a bit worried that they might approach the frightened boy and god only knows what would happen to him if they discovered the nature of his power. He was going to have to watch them very carefully.

As the two groups were still eyeing each other, a sudden development got their attention as a crack in the barrier appeared right in between the two groups. From the size and shape of it, it looked as if someone or _something_ had tried to punch the Illusion Barrier and that it looked close to collapsing any second.

"This isn't good" Sun-Il scratched his cheek. "Whatever's inside this Illusion Barrier must be desperately trying to escape..."

Sae-Young folded her arms as she huffed.

"What's the big deal? You can't seriously be suggesting it'll be something we, scratch that _I,_ can't handle?"

Sun-Il shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows" His voice held a whimsical tone as Sae-Young grunted in annoyance. She hated when he used that vague tone of voice.

Sun-Oh stepped forward, passing both his grandson and granddaughter as he made his way over towards the Yunhomoon's heads. Shi-Sen who noticed his approach inclined his head before walking towards Sun-Oh himself. As they finally were only mere inches apart, they both turned towards where the crack had been and raised their palms, concentrating a staggering amount of ki within them.

"Project"

They both exclaimed simultaneously and without warning, the crack began to morph and a transparent image of what was inside the broken Illusion Barrier appeared.

It was the same city but clearly, some sort of hard fought battle had taken place judging by the destroyed buildings and dissolved objects. Both members of the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon were visibly shaken by the sight of what had occurred, including Jee-Han whose mouth was wide open at observing the several monsters that were trying to destroy the Illusion Barrier. Ugly and repulsive, they were creatures referred to as "trolls" in fantasy games but clearly, they were zombified versions of them and gave off a feeling of disgust and dread.

" _I'm going to shred you bastards to dust_!"

A familiar voice echoed through the minds of everyone present as they fixated their gazes upon the source. Though the Illusion Barrier was a bit blurry, the person who was floating in mid air with a hateful scowl on his face was undeniable. Sung-Gong, the one known as the **Black Summoner** was facing the several atrocities as a large amount of blood list emitted from his body.

Shi-Sen frowned. "Che, as I suspected. The cause of this disturbance was related to him..."

Sun-Oh on the other hand had a hardened expression on his face as he noted the obvious damage Sung-Gong had taken in his engagement. Missing his left hand, he showed signs of fatigue as he was panting and his face looked a bit sweaty.

" _For a man of his skill to have taken such damage..._ " It was an unpleasant thought.

As both of the elders observed the situation, Jee-Han was the only one who was speechless at the current spectacle before him. What he knew about Illusion Barriers was thrown out the window as he had just seen the two clan heads open a projection of another person's barrier. He was beginning to become anxious at what was going to happen if Gaia was forced to intervene to stop it.

"Ara~, It seems the Black Summoner is in quite a predicament"

Shi-Yan's playful voice snapped Jee-Han out of his thoughts and the boy in turn narrowed his gaze at one of the troll zombies sneaking up on him.

"We've gotta bust in there and help him!"

Though he had shouted it, no one responded to Jee-Han's declaration as both the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon were silent. It was as if they weren't even bothering to listen to him at all.

" _Why aren't they saying anything...?_ "

"Jee-Han... I don't think you quite understand the current situation" Sun-Oh stated as Jee-Han now had his eyes fixed on the geezer.

"W-What are you talking about!? So you're saying its fine to just stand here and do nothing?" Jee-Han simply couldn't understand why they weren't going to help him. Okay sure, he knew they weren't on the best of terms but this wasn't the time to let grudges surface. They could deal with that kind of crap later, after the situation was resolved.

"Han Jee-Han" Shi-Yun had now cut in and stepped forward, only stopping a few short steps in front of Jee-Han.

"Sung-Gong caused this dilemma by his own hands and the result was the current predicament we are now facing. Our clan may be obligated to restore the balance of his broken Illusion Barrier but we are under no obligation to help him. More than that..."

Jee-Han flinched as he saw the hidden hostility surface on Shi-Yun's face and the temperature around the woman slowly rose.

"Why should I assist the bastard who harmed my clan?"

Those words struck at Jee-Han like a thunderbolt as he took in the woman's seething rage. Not just her, excluding the two clan heads, every member of the Yunhonmoon seemed to agree with Shi-Yun as a mixture of annoyed expressions were present.

" _By the look on their faces... He must have really done a number on those guys..._ " That day where Jee-Han had first met Shi-Yun and Sung-Gong played back in his head as he recalled Shi-Yun's clear contempt for the man. At the time he had discarded it as he wasn't aware of the way things are back then but now, he understood her frustration.

It was obvious.

After having most of your clan crippled by a single man and after swearing revenge on that person, how could anyone expect them to aid him now? If it were him, he would have probably done the same thing in their place. That unforgettable rage he had felt that day when he saw Sun-Il in the hospital, broken and bruised. It was one of the few times where Jee-Han had ever thought about harming another individual, regardless of the consequences.

Jee-Han quickly stole a glance at his friend who had noticed his stare. Sun-Il merely shrugged as he walked up to Jee-Han and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Stop worrying about what happened before. I don't hold any grudges against Sung-Gong and you shouldn't either. Of course, I can't say the same for those guys over there but what you want to do is the most important thing."

As if Sun-Il's words had punched him straight in the face, Jee-Han stared disbelievingly at his best friend who now sported a wide grin.

" _What I... want?_ "

In the next moment, a familiar arm was thrust around Jee-Han's other shoulder as he spun around to see Sae-Young also giving him a smirk.

"That's right, stop thinking so hard. It's not like you; just do what _you_ want to do. Men have to be decisive in these kinds of moments, am I right?"

Not because his beautiful noona was this close to him that Jee-Han felt a bit embarrassed, well somewhat but it was mostly because he didn't know how to respond to their declarations. They were essentially saying that they didn't care about what the Yunhonmoon thought regarding Sung-Gong and wanted to hear his own opinions. Just being here in itself was a privilege for Jee-Han, and now he was allowed to decide what he wanted to do? Did he really have the authority to do such a thing? Agreement or not, he couldn't help but feel as if he was overstepping his boundaries a little as he turned one final glance to Sun-Oh.

A sigh escaped the elderly man's mouth as he had already expected something like this.

"Do as you please. We agreed to recognize you as an equal on this mission so you're free to do as you wish. Just don't screw things up for everyone, geek"

"Geezer..."

Annoyed but also touched at the old man's decision, Jee-Han smiled warmly at how much faith they put him in. He understood what was important to him now. More than saving Sung-Gong out of good faith or trying to be a hero, Jee-Han knew what he wanted more than anything right now. He wanted to be paid; compensation was the only true motivator in this world. Just imagining the things he could get out of Sung-Gong if he saved his life made his mouth drool.

Sae-Young let go of the now resolved Jee-Han and crossed her arms and she glanced towards Sun-Il who only snickered and then nodded approval. It seemed they both understood that Jee-Han was ready to make his decision.

Stepping forward, Jee-Han confidently walked towards Shi-Sen who could only continue to glare at the brat who now faced him.

"I want my compensation so I'm going to assist Sung-Gong!"

It was a completely out of the ordinary declaration that made the nearby inhabitants widen their eyes in disbelief and confusion, especially the now speechless Shi-Yun. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever expect the cowardly classmate of hers to have enough balls and courage to stand up to her grandfather. But more than that, what was this about compensation now? She couldn't understand what he was talking about.

Shi-Yan who was standing next to her husband hummed as her interest in the boy had just risen.

"Compensation? What are you... no, never mind. Brat, are you aware of what your statement implies? Sung-Gong created this mess in the first place and now you, a mere child who has no standing wants to help him? What propels you to do such a senseless thing?"

Jee-Han gulped at the piercing glare now directed at him but steeled himself for whatever awaited next.

"I know that you and your clan have beef with Sung-Gong but that's not my concern! Sung-Gong screwed up but he's my ticket to more skill books so helping him out is something that will benefit me. However, I'm aware I'm lacking in a lot of areas so I'd appreciate it if you and your clan could assist me in that regard, please!"

The last of his words came out a bit too desperate as Sun-Il along with Sae-Young both cast a sorrowful gaze. Though _they_ were more than willing to lend a hand, it was a completely different matter for the Yunhonmoon.

Shi-Sen merely huffed at the estranged request."Your words fall short on me" Shi-Sen didn't hesitate for a second to rebuke Jee-Han's pleas as he turned his back to the boy.

"Ignoring the Black Summoner, I want all of you to spread out and utilize your ki to cover the broken Illusion Barrier. Whatever happens to Sung-Gong is his own problem, we'll be intervening to destroy those monsters in the barrier and then pull out of here. Though I do not hold a grudge against him for what he did to the others, I see no reason to offer him any assistance. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!"

His decision had been made and just as he was about to walk forward along with the rest of his clan members, the words that Jee-Han would speak next would paralyze the Yunhonmoon head.

"In exchange for helping Sung-Gong, I'll heal the members of your clan that were hurt by him!"

"..."

An eerie silence followed Jee-Han's exclamation as the words he had spoken had not yet processed in the minds of those belonging to the Yunhonmoon. Both Shi-Yun and Shi-Yan had their mouths hanging wide open at his declaration and Shi-Sen, a man who held one of the greatest poker faces in Seoul could only blankly stare at the unpredictable boy in front of him with a glint of curiosity in his eye.

"What... was that?" His voice was unnaturally anxious and he didn't think he had heard properly so he asked once again.

Jee-Han gripped his fists tighter than he had ever done so before as the pressure he was feeling before might as well have been nonexistent compared to now. In truth, he didn't want to reveal this method until he was confident in his abilities and secured a standing within the Abyss but the opportunity to make a deal with the Yunhonmoon had just presented itself.

This was a gamble to say the least; if it worked, Jee-Han could obtain a friendly relationship with the Yunhonmoon and earn their trust, along with possible skill books from their clan. If it failed however, the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon could have their barely holding alliance crumble over the fact that the Chunbumoon had given out one of their borrowed books to a stranger. Even if Sun-Il had claimed that it wasn't a big deal if someone outside the clan learned it, Jee-Han couldn't be absolutely sure of that so he decided to take the risk.

"The members of your clan that were crippled by Sung-Gong... I can cure them. If you're willing to help us defeat those monsters and assist Sung-Gong, I'll heal them"

"Hoh..."

Shi-Sen had turned around now to face the young man again and narrowed his eyes, calmly observing him. Shi-Yun had mentioned that he was a natural ability user so there was some merit in what the boy was saying, but could he really do it? To heal injuries that even the finest doctors the Yunhonmoon could barely tend too was no simple task. Just what were this boy's abilities? No before that, he had to confirm something.

His focused eyes wandered over to Sun-Oh. "I heard some members of your clan suffered the same fate as some of mine. This boy... was involved in their recovery?"

Sun-Oh frowned his eyebrows and clicked his tongue in annoyance. Damn, the man was as sharp as he remembered. He tossed a quick glance towards the hardened Jee-Han and to the elder's surprise, he nodded his head, as if telling him it was alright. Reading between the lines, Sun-Oh also nodded and decided to trust in Jee-Han's decision. It was the least he could do.

"That's correct"

"...I see."

Shi-Sen's piercing glaze focused back on Jee-Han who flinched automatically towards it but surprisingly, it didn't hold the same hostility as before. In fact, one could say that the gaze was more of curiosity than actual detest. At this, Jee-Han sighed in relief as he believed that he had at least somewhat gained the clan leader's respect, if only ever slightly.

"Han Jee-Han... is that true? Can you really heal the people of my clan?"

Jee-Han's eyes flickered and he turned to see Shi-Yun standing only a few feet behind him. He felt his heart beat soundly rise at such a close proximity and almost screamed in surprise but held it in not to embarrass himself.

"Th-That's right Shi-Yun, sorry if I never mentioned it before but-"

"I don't care about that!"

Without warning, Shi-Yun swiftly grabbed Jee-Han's hand with both of her's and stepped closer towards him as her beautiful orange eyes came into viewing. Jee-Han gulped internally as he was met with those intoxicating pupils and the pleasant aroma coming from her was enough for him to stiffen anxiously.

"Can you really do it?"

The proud and strong Shi-Yun who always displayed herself in that manner was nowhere to be seen and her voice had become tender, gentle even. For her to suddenly become like this over the prospect of her clansman being healed; she really must have loved them dearly.

"Y-Yea... I can do it" He was starting to get a bit embarrassed.

"How? Does your natural ability allow you to heal people?" Her question was expected and Jee-Han wryly smiled.

"You could say it like that. If you're willing to trust me and give me a bit of time, healing them shouldn't be a problem"

Shi-Yun stared at him with a blank face, trying to ascertain if he was lying or not. She believed herself to be a good judge of character and didn't sense any deceit in Jee-Han's words.

"Really?"

Jee-Han nodded. "Definitely"

"Are you sure?"

"...Yes"

"Are you absolutely certain?"

"...I'm sure"

"Are you-

"Damn it, I said yes already!" Jee-Han erupted as he had enough of the woman pestering him on the matter. Jeez, did she really think he wasn't capable of doing anything!?

"Haha, how amusing~" Shi-Yan chimed as she watched the exchange between her granddaughter and the amusing child.

Over towards Sun-Oh and the Chunbumoon, Sun-Il just chuckled while Sae-Young gave an approving nod while the old geezer just sighed as he held his templates.

After Shi-Yun had asked several times _again_ to confirm it, she turned to her grandfather and bowed her head, an act that made said grandfather look at her with a hardened glare.

"Grandfather, allow me to assist my classmate Han Jee-Han in exchange for him providing care for Oppa and the others. I believe he can do it"

Jee-Han's eyes widened when he heard mention of that. This was the first time that Shi-Yun had ever willingly acknowledged him in regards to being useful so he felt a bit embarrassed as a light grin crept upon his lips.

Shi-Sen who had confirmed his suspicions of the boy stared at his bowing granddaughter before he nodded in acceptance.

"Very well. Kwon Shi-Yun, you are to assist the Chunbumoon and that boy in helping the Black Summoner. We shall deal with the Illusion Barrier and keep it from collapsing"

"Thank you!"

Shi-Yun's gratitude was present in her thanks as she stood up and looked back towards Jee-Han.

"I'll be in your care." She inclined her head respectfully towards Jee-Han who honestly didn't know how to respond to such respect. He settled on giving her an appropriate response to fit the mood.

"Glad to be working with you" was all he could muster as he turned to Sun-Il and Sae-Young who had both long finished their preparations. As he nodded, he then faced the old man who had been observing the conversation with small interest.

"Looks like we're heading in, geezer"

"Ah, be careful in there. Sun-Il and Sae-Young, I leave him to you"

They both nodded. "We got it"

With their objective clear, Jee-Han, Sun-Il, Sae-Young, and Shi-Yun all walked towards the projection of the Illusion Barrier and readied themselves. From the way things looked, Sung-Gong was going to need their help as soon as possible.

Jee-Han took a deep breath to calm his nerves before shouting...

"Let's go!"

* * *

【 **Present Time** 】

"So that's what happened..."

At the moment, Sung-Gong was resting against a wall as his missing left arm had stopped bleeding. He wasn't worried about it since recreating it would be a simple matter with his energy but now wasn't the time to be worried about that.

"Yea, I made a deal with the Yunhonmoon. So for now, we're all allies" Jee-Han had taken the time to explain the events of what transpired earlier to Sung-Gong while Sae-Young and Sun-Il kept an eye on the troll zombie's movements.

"...I see. I'm grateful for the assistance."

Jee-Han sported a less than innocent at that remark. "If you really are grateful, then compensating me for getting the Yunhonmoon to cooperate with you should be expected, right?"

Sung-Gong's mouth hung wide open at the mention of the boy's less than subtle attempt to blackmail _him_ , the Black Summoner! He didn't know if the kid was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid but at the very least, he knew the kid had some balls to try and get something out of him during such a crisis.

A light chuckle escaped Sung-Gon's lips. "I suppose you're right. I'm a man of my word, name your price"

" _Hell yes! I've got him right where I want him so I better make sure I request something I can definitely use for my survival... I'll need to think on this one"_ He surmised.

"I can't think of it at the moment but I'll let you know once it comes to me. Just don't go forgetting our agreement, alright?"

"Understood"

Jee-Han faintly smiled before observing how differently Sung-Gong was acting compared to his normal self. He believed Sung-Gong to be a prideful man that would refuse help under any circumstance but his image of him had turned out to be way off track. To think, only mere days ago he had wanted to get revenge against this man for what he did to Sun-Il and now here he was, negotiating with him.

"How pathetic, Black Summoner..."

That abrupt voice alerted both Jee-Han and Sung-Gong as they turned to see Shi-Yun leaning against a wall nearby with her arms crossed and eyes closed.

Sung-Gong hung his head down in shame at that mention.

"Yea you're right... I am quite pathetic..." The visible guilt in Sung-Gong's voice alarmed Jee-Han as he never pictured the confident and mysterious Sung-Gong that he used to fear would end up in such a state. Just what exactly transpired in here before they had arrived?

Shi-Yun could only open her eyes and glare at Sung-Gong's disgraceful answer before she gritted her teeth and turned her attention away from him. To see the person who had caused the Yunhonmoon such humiliation act this way made Shi-Yun's opinion of him drastically fall. When she had first engaged him, his calm and collected attitude along with his confidence made Shi-Yun internally fear just how powerful he was. Even if she loathed him, she couldn't deny his undeniable strength and wanted to overcome him not just because of what he did but also because of her warrior spirit. _This_ sight of him however, was _not_ what she had wanted at all and it made her angrier that a man who earned the respect of her grandfather was reduced to such a sorry state.

Jee-Han awkwardly looked between the two as he had no way of calming Shi-Yun down ever since she had made eye contact with Sung-Gong. He couldn't really blame her though given the circumstances and decided to leave it alone as he left Sung-Gong's side and walked forward, placing a leg on the edge of the balcony and eyed the four enemies in front of him that were conversing in some unreadable language.

Sun-Il and Sae-Young, who were both standing nearby on a rooftop both jumped down to join Jee-Han and Shi-Yun.

"So, are we ready?" Sun-Il asked with a hint of excitement in his voice, causing Jee-Han to side glance at him. The bastard was actually enjoying this.

Jee-Han sighed but nodded in confirmation. "I just finished explaining the circumstances to Sung-Gong. He's in pretty rough shape so it'll just be the four of us"

Sae-Young grinned happily at that revelation as she punched her palm with a fist.

"Sounds good. I was worried he'd hog all the fun"

Jee-Han produced a wry smile at the girl's confidence before glancing at Sung-Gong. Truthfully, he was sure he could heal Sung-Gong's injuries with the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』technique. However, Sung-Gong had already informed him that he didn't need to concern himself with his shameful wounds and that he would handle it on his own. Though Jee-Han was very curious as to how he'd re grow a missing freaking limb, he left it at that and decided to leave it to him. Besides, in this upcoming fight he'd probably need to focus on healing the four of them.

Sung-Gong apparently noticed the boy's inquiring gaze and waved a dismissive hand.

"Your worry is not needed. Though I don't know how strong you all are, I can at least tell that those two geezers over there would never let you guys fight unless you were properly prepared. I'll just warn you all now though not to underestimate those things; they're much more intelligent than they let on. Be cautious"

The four of them took in Sung-Gong's advice and then turned their gazes towards the four zombies. In the time they had spent talking, the zombies also had been preparing on some sort of strategy as they spoke to one another in ruffled moans and groans.

" _Is that they're way of communicating? That's just wrong..._ " Jee-Han absently wondered as he watched the four of them group up as if they were some sort of dungeon party.

Party.

That word resounded in Jee-Han's mind as he recalled the party he had created with Sun-Il not too long ago. If he wasn't mistaken, Gaia never specified a limit to how big a party could be and if that was the case...

"Hey, Sun-Il"

"Hm?" The green haired boy answered.

"Don't you think it's time we made a party?"

The boy in question raised an eyebrow. "What are you...oh!" As if it had just hit him, he let out a surprised sound by accident and caused both Shi-Yun and Sae-Young to trade odd looks between the two boys.

Sun-Il grinned as he nodded at Jee-Han.

"I completely forgot about that. Go ahead and set it up, I'm really interested to see if we can do it here"

Jee-Han nodded. "Right,『 **Create Party** 』!"

 **«** **Ding!** **»**

 **You've created a party.**

 **What would you like to name your party?**

Jee-Han did a fist bump internally at the creation of his party and brought a hand to his chin, trying to think of an appropriate name for his new team.

Just as he was about speak the name of the party, Sun-Il nudged him with his elbow and whispered over to Jee-Han.

"Oi, let me name the party this time. You have a horrible naming sense"

Jee-Han scoffed. "As if yours is any better... but fine, just this once".

Sun-Il smiled happily at it and whispered the name to Jee-Han, while Shi-Yun and Sae-Young were both at this point completely clueless as to what was transpiring. Even Sung-Gong who was resting nearby had tried to comprehend what they were babbling about.

"Oh! That's not a bad name!" Jee-Han exclaimed with a hint of excitement.

Sun-Il shrugged. "It's what I do"

"Then..." Jee-Han began.

"Illusion Busters!"

 **Would you like "Illusion Busters" to be your party name?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Refuse (N)**

Confirming it, Jee-Han gave Sun-Il a high five at their "cool" new name.

"For awhile now... just what the hell have you guys been doing?" The confused voice of Sae-Young spoke as she looked for an explanation. They were talking about things she had heard before from Jee-Han during his geeky rants and she theorized it had something to do with his gaming powers but she still needed an explanation.

Jee-Han just shot the girl a wide grin before pumping his chest out.

"I'll explain later Noona but first, let's invite you guys so we can start.『 **Party Invite, Sun-Il, Shi-Yun, and Sae-Young** 』"

Instantaneously, three notifications appeared before the three individuals that had just been named, earning several mixed reactions.

Sun-Il grinned. "I was waiting for this"

"Kya! Wh-Wh-What is this!?" Sae-Young yelped as she took a few steps back.

Shi-Yun's eyes blinked several times in disbelief. "... Just what in the world..."

Jee-Han giggled at the girls expressions, recalling Sun-Il's similar reaction so Jee-Han's amusement had been well earned. Sun-Il already confirmed his invitation and went over to his cousin, patting the startled woman on the shoulder.

"What are you doing? Confirm Jee-Han's invitation already"

"B-But he... wait you know what this is!? Explain it properly to me!" The woman's cool and in control confidence was nowhere to been seen.

Shi-Yun also nodded. "I also require an explanation, Han Jee-Han. Your power is... very intriguing"

Jee-Han sighed as a hand dropped to his hips. "Look I'll explain the details of the party later, just confirm those notifications already!"

The girls both shot Jee-Han a puzzled expression before nodding slightly and did as he instructed. With that, the『 **Illusion Busters** 』party had been established with Jee-Han as the party leader.

"Good, looks like we're just about ready. Now I just need to make some adjustments..."

Quickly navigating into the settings menu, Jee-Han analyzed the different features of his party system much more thoroughly than before. During his analysis, the button he had been looking before appeared and he selected [ **Set Roles** ], prompting another notification.

 **You have entered [Team Battle] mode.**

 **Select the appropriate roles for the members of the** 『 **Illusion Busters** 』 **party.**

Jee-Han praised himself internally for his decision to utilize the party system better this time around. No doubt thanks to his increased wisdom, he had come to think of the idea when he used『 **Observe** 』on Shi-Yun's status before they had arrived.

 **Name:** Kwon Shi-Yun **  
** **Class:** Yunhonmoon Prodigy **  
** **Title:** 《Spirited Inferno》  
 **Level:** 34

 **STR:** 64 **  
** **VIT:** 82 **  
** **DEX:** 78 **  
** **INT:** 17 **  
** **WIS:** 13 **  
** **LUK:** 20

 **EXP Level:** 0.00 %

With those stats, Jee-Han had come to understand that those in both the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon had "DPS" orientated builds that focused more on their physical abilities as opposed to their magical ones. It made sense; they were martial artists so it was only natural that they were more suited for close combat.

The real genius part had come in when Jee-Han realized that if they were to ever party up, they could fill the roles that Jee-Han lacked during the battle with the Legion Zombie. It became apparent to him that he wasn't ready for close quarters just yet and only having Sun-Il act as his diversion was pushing it. Now with both Shi-Yun and Sae-Young joining the party, things would definitely go smoother. At least, that's what he hoped.

"Good, I can set the roles. Hmm, looking at all of your stats I suppose that..." Jee-Han kept mumbling to himself and everyone else present could only watch in confusion. Even Sun-Il didn't understand what his friend was up too this time.

As Sun-Il decided to turn his attention back to the monsters who he still couldn't believe hadn't attacked them while they were planning on how to kill them, he widened his eyes and his alertness rose tremendously.

"Heads up!"

His sharp voice alerted the other three and spontaneously, they all turned around to see a nightmarish view. The four monstrosities from before where nowhere to be seen and what now stood before them was a giant mass of garbage that was beginning to take shape.

"Che... they're regrouping" Sun-Gong expressed annoyingly. Not only having the ability to disassemble into separate identities, the troll zombie also held the power to regroup into one whole being. Just what the hell kind of monster were they dealing with here?

Moments later, the imposing figure of a twenty feet tall troll zombie was now looking down on the five of them while the clan heads who had been observing the events so far had chimed in.

"Hoh... that beast has quite the intriguing ability" Shi-Sen hummed as he watched the zombie groan disgustingly.

"Fufufu..." Shi-Yan's lighthearted chuckle was heard next. "I wonder how the kids will handle this".

Sun-Oh watched the scene in silence as he stroked his beard. Though he held his worries, he was confident that Sun-Il and Sae-Young could handle it; along with the Yunhonmoon girl and the geek.

" _Gazzzahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"_

The troll zombie's roar spread across the Illusion Barrier as the『 **Illusion Busters** 』exhibited caution and had taken up fighting poses. Faster than what they expected, the zombie's mouth began to chew on pile of dark ooze before producing a large wave of toxic sludge at the group.

"Incoming!" Sun-Il shouted as he jumped to the side to avoid the attack. The rest of the group followed his lead and jumped in separate directions, easily avoiding the corrosive damage. Jee-Han had activated the『 **Chunbu Foot Technique** 』as to not fall behind as he sailed through the air. The four of them had now been separated and hid behind houses and corners to obstruct the troll's aim.

In no time at all, the infected building that they used to be standing on was easily corroded away and all that was left was a puddle of ooze. The scene made Jee-Han flinch as he turned back to the beast with an uneasy expression.

" _Note to self, never get hit by that._ " He absently thought as he prepared to find out more information regarding the zombie.

"『 **Observe!** 』"

 **«** **Troll Zombie** **»**

 **Level 62**

 **HP: 40000 (45200) | MP: 1650 (3000)**

 **The restless souls of the absorbed zombies want their revenge and took the shape of this monstrosity. The birth of this unique zombie was due to the resentment of the wicked souls that were absorbed by Sung-Gong along with the intervention of an outside party. Despite its appearance, the troll zombie possesses notable intelligence and has a high instinct for survival. It's not as slow as it looks so don't underestimate it. Also, keep away from its sludge attacks otherwise you will die, okay?**

"..."

Jee-Han felt himself get a headache as he read the unnecessarily accurate description that basically told him nothing that would really help. Stupid Gaia was trying to be funny again no doubt.

Though he said that, that one piece of information he discovered made him frown. The troll was born not just from Sung-Gong's soul gathering but also from an outside party? If that was the case then this situation might not completely be his fault.

He glanced over towards Sung-Gong who had already taken procedures to avoid the sludge attack and was at a safe distance. Even if he was now ware that the man wasn't the only cause, it still didn't sit right with Jee-Han that he could allow this to happen for his own selfish goals. Jee-Han couldn't understand; just what could the man be after that he'd risk creating a situation like this?

Jee-Han shook his head to focus back to the task at hand. He needed to rid himself of his doubts; he didn't have the time to be spacing out now as he focused back on setting the roles.

Pulling up the screen, he saw four distinctive positions that could be assigned to any member of his party.

『 **Tank** 』|『 **Striker** 』|『 **Healer** 』|『 **Controller** 』

" _So my gamer ability even incorporates even this type of party system..._ " He tipped his nonexistent hat off to Gaia, the scope of his powers just kept on getting wider.

Jee-Han scanned over the stats of his companions and was able to figure out everyone's roles pretty easily.

"So... like this?" He dragged the four separate icons that represented each of the positions onto each member and instantly, a notification appeared.

 **The following roles have been decided for each member.**

《 **Han Jee-Han – Controller** 》

《 **Shin Sun-Il – Striker** 》

《 **Poong Sae-Young – Tank** 》

《 **Kwon Shi-Yun – Striker** 》

 **Would you like to confirm these roles?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

"Seems good"

Jee-Han was able to decide their roles based on everyone's total HP and MP along with their highest stat total. For Sae-Young who had possessed the most HP and VIT out of the group, the position of the『 **Tank** 』was an easy choice. For Sun-Il and Sae-Young, who's STR and DEX were only slightly lower than Sae-Young's, the『 **Striker** 』position was the best way to go. For himself, Jee-Han's healing methods were too inefficient at the moment to designate him as a pure healer so the『 **Controller** 』role was the only viable option available. In an RPG he played, the job of『 **Controller** 』was essentially the tactician of the group that watched the battlefield and issued out commands to utilize his companions to their fullest.

Clicking the『 **Voice Chat** 』option which he tampered with a few days ago together with Sun-Il, he spoke to his separated companions.

"Guys, can you hear me?"

Once again...

"Kya! Wha-Wha Jee-Han, is that you?"

"...Why can I hear your voice directly in my head?"

Sun-Il was the only one who wasn't freaking out. "Yo, loud and clear! You're using voice chat, right?" Of course when Jee-Han had first tested it out, Sun-Il's reaction was similar to the two woman who were currently flabbergasted.

Jee-Han scratched his cheek awkwardly. He didn't notice earlier but he just now came to realize how absolutely weird his power must have been to others.

"It'd take too long to explain completely but let's just say my power will let us communicate with each other easily like this, alright? Just think of it like a wireless headset."

"O-Okay..."

"...I understand"

The two of them hesitantly accepted his reasoning but made mental notes to question the boy on these unbelievable phenomenon's later. Jee-Han's power's were simply far too strange to just let it be.

Sighing in relief, Jee-Han then concentrated on explaining the [ **Team Battle** ] system to his companions and their designated roles. Sun-Il understood the terms pretty easily since he and Jee-Han had partied up before in games but Sae-Young and Shi-Yun were utterly clueless when it came to understanding what they were supposed to do. Jee-Han tried his best to simply the terms so that game noobs like them could grasp it and the result was...

"So basically... I'm a shield? That sounds boring..." Sae-Young pouted as she crossed her arms.

"Please Noona, you're the only one who can do it!" Jee-Han pleaded.

She relented a bit before clicking her tongue in annoyance and scratching her beautiful cerulean hair.

"...Fine but just this once, alright?"

Jee-Han grinned widely. "That's my noona!"

Sae-Young huffed before turning her face away as an evident blush was apparent on her face. Damn him, Jee-Han must have known that it was hard for the girl to deny him anything when he asked like that.

"So me and the princess are the heavy hitters, is that right?" Sun-Il's inquired with his laid back tone while Shi-Yun flinched at the term "princess". Why did he keep calling her that?

"That's about right. Is that cool with you, Shi-Yun?"

Shi-Yun had no complaints as she nodded her head. "Very well. With my pride as a member of the Yunhonmoon on the line, I'll do my best"

With that out of the way Jee-Han thought, they could finally get down to business.

Facing the troll zombie who at this point was still searching for the separated group, Jee-Han thought of the best way to approach the situation. Unlike the time with the legion zombie, the troll zombie was an enemy that could attack from a distance so they couldn't recklessly show themselves and use the same tactics. This time...

"Sae-Young, can you get its attention?" Jee-Han communicated with the now grinning older woman who cracked her knuckles.

"Piece of cake. You've got a plan right?"

"You could say that."

"Hmm... well, I guess I'll leave it in your hands. I'm off!"

Sae-Young focused her inner ki towards the soles of her feet as she squatted down. Not a second later, she exploded from her position and soared towards the alarmed troll zombie who had just now noticed her presence. The beast could do little against the woman's terrifying speed as she stretched her right arm back. With the added momentum, she shot her fist forward and it landed directly against the zombie's abdomen, blowing the troll several meters backwards. It skid across the floor and quickly regained its balance but it was evident that some damage had occurred as the zombie groaned unpleasantly and bits of dirt came out of its mouth.

Sae-Young landed on the ground with a thud as she casually shook her wrist, wiping away pieces of dirt that had spread on her hand.

"Ugh, how gross. Jee-Han better make this up to me"

As she complained, the troll had already recovered from its earlier dilemma and now directed its full hostility towards the grinning woman.

"So, you wanna play with me?" Her voice came out sharp and she narrowed her eyes as a curvy grin took shape upon her attractive face.

She squatted down again and rushed at the beast once more, this time however she was planning on landing a round house kick. However, she quickly noticed that the zombie had prepared itself for her attack as it stretched out its own fist that expanded, rapidly making its way to the startled Sae-Young.

"Che!"

She threw both of her hands up to block the incoming attack. The troll's fist hit her directly as she was catapulted back a considerable distance, smashing straight through the window of a nearby house and was buried within the rubble.

The arm that had been stretched out retracted towards the troll zombie and it let out a hardy laugh at the damage it had caused. However, the zombie wasn't foolish enough to believe that the human had been done in with that amount of damage and inhaled a great deal of toxins before spitting it out towards the destroyed building. It wouldn't hurt to have a little insurance.

Suddenly, Sae-Young sprang up from the rubble and nimbly avoided the toxins that corroded the remaining pieces of the building. She landed on a nearby rooftop and looked at her body from top to bottom before scratching her head.

"That's odd... even though I took that attack head on, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would"

It was puzzling to her as she suspected she would have at least taken some considerable damage from that last attack but was surprised to see that she was in pretty good condition. Could it have anything to do with Jee-Han's power?

"Noona! Is everything alright?" Jee-Han's voice appeared in her head.

Sae-Young shrugged. "Surprisingly, I barely felt anything when I got smashed. Does this have anything to do with the tank thing you mentioned?"

Jee-Han grinned as he watched Sae-Young's HP bar barely drop from the recent damage. His experiment had been successful and Sae-Young had fully taken on the role of the group's tank; a person who could soak up huge amounts of damage like a wet sponge.

"Yea, let's just say my powers have increased your defenses. Now, show that walking pile of garbage your monstrous power!"

Sae-Young's eyebrows twitched at the mention of being calling a "monster" and she adopted a frightening grin.

"Oi Jee-Han... who are you calling a monster?"

Jee-Han winced as he awkwardly laughed. "N-No I mean... Noona has such amazing power that I got kind of carried away...ahahaha"

Normally, Sae-Young wouldn't have let that comment slip but there were more important matters at hand and huffed. She'd only slightly beat him half to death after this was over.

"So, is your plan ready yet? How long do I have to touch that filthy thing"

"Yea, the other two are in place. I'll give the signal when it's ready"

"Fine, but hurry it up already!"

Sae-Young lamented and adopted another fighting stance at the incoming zombie who was casually walking towards her. She figured it had to be quite confident in its abilities if didn't think it needed to sneak attack her even when she was distracted. For some reason, it ticked her off.

"Heh, I'll knock you down a peg!" She yelled as she jumped into the sky and began descending towards the inclined monster. The beast only raised its head at the falling girl, giving her disgusting smirk that sent a shiver down Sae-Young's spine.

It then raised both of its arms into the air and from them, dark green vines erupted from the center of its huge palms. Those vines spread swiftly as if they had minds of their own as they attempted to capture the incoming Sae-Young that nimbly dodged their grasp.

" _Shit, so it even had abilities like these!?_ " Sae-Young was perplexed at the variety of powers the troll zombie possessed and grunted in annoyance as she twisted her body several times in the air to avoid the whips. The monsters that she had faced before where nowhere this adaptable and her doubts about the Black Summoner being defeated by this thing were starting to waver.

As she fell closer to the troll zombie and avoided the whips once more, she spun forward several times and released her leg down to perform a helix drop kick.

"Just fucking die!" She yelled as her foot was only a few meters away from the head of the zombie until...

"What!?" Another vine whip had appeared underneath the girl and caught the impending kick. She was held up with one leg as she squirmed restlessly to free herself from its clutches.

"Let go! You disgusting... damn it!" She cursed and as if responding to her helplessness, the zombie maliciously chuckled. The putrid smell of the troll and its repugnant laugh made Sae-Young want to vomit right there and then as its face drew closer to her.

" _Graaaa...Graaa"_ The ruffled moans of the troll spoke and it apparently had decided on what to do with the captured Sae-Young who looked mortified to say the least. As it reached one of its free arms to touch her, a smile crept upon Sae-Young's face that startled the zombie.

"Just kidding"

" _Graaaaa!?_ "

It what could only be described as baffling, the troll zombie's vines that had captured Sae-Young were instantly cut as she fell from its grip and landed on the ground in a crouched position.

Backing up, the zombie was perplexed on how the puny human had escaped until it noticed that a blade of water was gathered at the bottom of her feet. The liquid had taken the form of a sharp and precise blade that was composed entirely of water.

"Sorry, but you didn't actually think I was helpless, did you?"

This was a technique of the Chunbumoon that any member ranked Ren or higher could perform if their ki control was of a high degree. It was known as the『 **Torrent Slicer** 』, which was an inner ki technique that allowed the user to convert their ki to suck up any nearby moisture and then focus that liquid at any given point of their bodies. Of course, only Sae-Young was skilled enough in using water affiliated ki control techniques within the clan to use it to such a degree. It was fundamentally different from using magic as she didn't use mana as the foundation of the technique. Like the Yunhonmoon who could utilize special flames by burning their souls, Sae-Young and a few others could utilize water control by "liquidizing" their souls.

" _Graaaaaa!_ " The zombie roared angrily at having been tricked by a mere human. In retaliation, it rapidly shot off several toxic sludge's towards Sae-Young who only shrugged her shoulders at the futile attempt. She hastily avoided each sludge with elegant agility as the zombie didn't let up the attack.

" _It's getting pretty desperate... The distraction seems to be working"_ She absently thought as the plan was going good so far. All that was left was for Jee-Han's signal and they could wrap things would have been much easier for her to just go all out and kill the putrid zombie but she had decided to try out Jee-Han's plan for his sake. Besides, his gamer powers were pretty useful after all, that was a fact she couldn't deny.

As she dodged one of the sludge's once again by ducking her head, she came to a stop when she noticed that the troll had ceased its desperate struggle and she raised an eyebrow.

" _Why'd it stop...?"_ It didn't make much sense to her why the beast had done such a thing so abruptly.

"Chunbumoon girl, look behind you! It can split apart!"

Sung-Gong's distance voice barely reached her before she swiftly turned around and was met with an unexpected disaster. Her body was suddenly confined from behind and both her hands and feet had been restricted by vines, shocking the unprepared woman.

"W-What the hell is this!?" She angrily shouted before turning her head and paled when she saw a miniature version of the troll zombie standing behind her with its arms stretched out and vines coming out of them.

" _It duplicated itself!? Just when did it...!?"_ Sae-Young couldn't believe such a thing was possible as she endlessly tried to escape the monster's grasp. It was bizarre; she couldn't muster up any strength as it felt as like her life force was being drained by the beast. Her struggles became weaker by the second until eventually, she stopped resisting all together.

"Fuck..."

Sae-Young cursed at her careless mistake. Sung-Gong had been right, the creature was far cleverer than what she gave it credit for. Those earlier sludge's had only been distractions and one of those sludge's must have contained a separate body. To think, she had been outsmarted by a beast that looked no more intelligent than a box of nails.

Sae-Young tried once more to free herself from the beast's tight grasp but it was fruitless, she had no strength left.

" _Graaaaa...Graaaaa_..." The troll's low pitched chuckle annoyed Sae-Young to no end as it slowly approached the helpless girl, each thunderous step it took shaking the city with a thud sound.

"This doesn't look too good..." Sae-Young contemplated. Not that she was afraid of or anything but even she couldn't help shake the feeling of anxiety welling up as the troll came closer.

The troll slowly lifted its leg into the air and looked ready to crush Sae-Young under its giant foot before Sae-Young closed her eyes and awaited the impact. She was a member of the Chunbumoon, she could take it!

However, that impact never came as Jee-Han's voice sudden voice drew Sae-Young's eyes wide open.

"Now! Hit it!"

"We're on it!"

Those familiar voices spoke in unison and soaring through the air underneath the beautiful moon were the figures of Sun-Il and Shi-Yun that were charging straight at the beast. Shi-Yun ignited her ki instantly and activated the『 **Soul Blaze Fist** 』, engulfing her entire body in flames while Sun-Il used his inner ki to augment his body as a green aura enveloped him, wind pressure swirling around his right foot.

"『 **Soul Blaze Arts: Burn Impact!** 』"

"『 **Storm Kick!** 』"

" _Graaaaaaaahh!?"_

The troll zombie never stood a chance as its body was catapulted away from Sae-Young and it crashed into several buildings along the way, leaving a trail of debris in its wake. The miniature troll zombie panicked and turned around to see its original self being swatted away but that would cost it dearly as Sae-Young took the opportunity to break out of its reigns and delivered a devastating back kick to the zombie's face. Following up, she planted both of her feet on the ground and drew her arm back, focusing her inner ki and then launched it forwards, striking the troll in the stomach. It exploded on impact and all that was left of it was a puddle of its own flesh as Sae-Young wiped away the chunks of garbage that fell on her.

"Ugh, how sickening..."

She complained as she took the last piece of garbage out of her hair before turning to face her two allies that landed on the ground nearby and adopted bewildered expressions. Sae-Young felt a bit annoyed that they took so long as she approached them with a curious frown.

"It's about time you guys showed up. Playing the distraction was more troublesome than I thought..."

Sun-Il merely shrugged his shoulders as he scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry about that. Jee-Han told us not to move from our positions until he was absolutely sure the beast was focused on you."

Shi-Yun nodded.

"We would have provided assistance earlier but Jee-Han had adamantly expressed that if it was the monstrously strong Sae-Young, she would be fine"

Sae-Young's eyebrows twitched at that mention again and Jee-Han who had been listening to their conversation felt his life was in danger.

" _Damn it Shi-Yun, why'd you have to say it like that!? Do you want me to die, huh!?_ " He complained endlessly at Shi-Yun's lack of tact.

Sae-Young looked ready to murder the boy before her hostility dropped and she adopted her usual smile.

"I'll be paying you a visit after this, so be prepared for it." Though she was smiling, Sun-Il and Shi-Yun shuddered at the clear hidden hostility as Jee-Han reluctantly accepted his eventual punishment.

Outside of the Illusion Barrier, a hardy laugh could be heard from the usually stoic Yunhonmoon clan leader as he crossed his arms and a small grin appeared on his face.

"As expected, my granddaughter outshines both of your brats"

Sun-Oh glanced at Shi-Sen as if he was an idiot. "Have your eyes gone rotten? Both my grandchildren make your girl look as if she's still wet behind the ears"

In no time at all, the two were glaring at one another as they both tried to one up the other in praising their children. Shi-Yan watched the spectacle with a sigh before her eyes turned to back to the battlefield and narrowed her eyes. Though she hadn't known much about the abilities of Sae-Young or Sun-Il, Shi-Yun's displayed power was a bit troubling. She knew how strong her precious granddaughter was and the power she just showed was notably more powerful than what she remembered.

" _Has Yun-Yun been doing some special training_...?" The woman raised a hand to her chin as she considered the possibility. Shi-Yun was among the most talented of the clan so her skills developing rapidly was not a surprise, but that wasn't the issue. Her power was... unnatural to say the least. It was as if she received some sort of power boost and the only logical answer to that would be...

Her eyes fell on her granddaughter's classmate and the mysterious natural ability user, Han Jee-Han who was making his way towards the others.

"That boy, huh?"

She lightly chuckled at the fascinating mystery that the boy held regarding his powers. She had no idea how he did it but somehow, he was able to strengthen Shi-Yun's power while also increasing the abilities of the Chunbumoon disciples.

" _How amusing~_ " Was all she thought as she continued to watch the battle unfold, hoping to see more of the boy's power at work.

Sitting quietly in amazement, Sung-Gong was in pure awe at the teamwork displayed by the four of them. Though he already knew it was Jee-Han's involvement that made it possible, he was still surprised at the impressive showcasing of the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon brats. From what he recalled, they were just students still in training, barely old enough to qualify as adults. The fact that they could inflict such damage towards the troll zombie that had given him such trouble was no small feat. Even if his power was restricted, it was still an amazing accomplishment.

Jee-Han finally made his way over towards his friends and landed on a nearby rooftop as he panted slowly. He had activated both the『 **Chunbumoon Foot Technique** 』and『 **Chunbumoon Outer Ki** 』to increase his agility so he could move swiftly but it was still exhausting. The fact that Sae-Young and Sun-Il could continuously activate these abilities without losing their breath just went to show how much more experienced they were.

More than however, Jee-Han was in awe of his [ **Team Battle** ] mode and its buffs. He immediately recognized that due to setting roles for the group, each of them received bonuses in regards to their specific positions and could only thank Gaia once again for such a cheap ability.

Whether it be Sae-Young's improved defensive powers by being a tank or the increased power and speed granted to damage dealer's like Sun-Il and Shi-Yun, the gains were more than satisfying. However, these buffs also came at a cost as he glanced at his MP bar and noticed that it had dropped significantly.

" _It looks like when I activate [ **Team Battle** ] mode, to sustain their buffs I have to use my MP... I suppose it would be too unfair if there were no drawbacks"_ Damn, he was hoping that his abilities would be even more broken but he accepted these terms. It wasn't as if he was in any position to be picky.

"Han Jee-Han, is this your doing?" Shi-Yun asked curiously as she looked up towards him and he gave her a curtly nod.

"That's right, I was able to amplify your powers but it drains my mana. Think of it as a double edged sword"

"I see..."

Shi-Yun now understood the fundamentals of this aspect of his power when Jee-Han had mentioned the terms "Party" and "DPS". Shi-Yun was clueless regarding games but even she could figure out that because Jee-Han had assigned her the role of a striker, she had gotten more powerful. Still, what worried her were the limits to his power and how much more he could do. It was quite the frightening ability indeed.

"Ah, so that's why it felt as if we had gotten faster and stronger. Man, your ability gets more unfair by the minute" Sun-Il commented as he stretched his legs.

Jee-Han waved a lazy hand. "You can blame Gaia for that"

Emerging from the rubble of where it had crashed, the troll zombie had rose again and looked no different than it did before it was damaged. Jee-Han produced a wry smile as he observed the remaining beasts HP bar, which had been reduced by a noticeable but overall small margin.

" _How damn durable is that thing..._ "

A few drips of sweat fell from Jee-Han's face as he felt his heart beat pounding, getting faster with each passing moment. This wasn't good, he was getting nervous. He couldn't really expect anything different as he hadn't been in as many battles unlike the monster trio below him and was still considered a novice.

"Oho~, looks like it's getting ready to launch a counter attack. You got any more ideas, Jee-Han?" Sun-Il inquired with the same foxy smile as always.

Sae-Young cracked her fists as she stepped forward. "I'm done playing that shield thing; let me go wild from now on!" She demanded.

"Not yet, we still need to drain its health more before we can go on an all out offensive. In our current states, only you can protect us noona!"

Sae-Young just tossed the boy an annoyed glance before huffing away as she pouted.

"Whatever"

Jee-Han sighed in relief at getting the girl to calm down before focusing his attention back to the approaching troll who didn't look too pleased at being fooled. He observed the spots that Sun-Il and Shi-Yun had struck, frowning as he saw no lasting effects. Apparently, this zombie had the power of body regeneration but it must have cost it some mana as he saw its MP bar noticeably drop.

" _Alright what's the next move..._ " He wondered as he gauged his MP and recalled the skills in his arsenal.『 **Mana Arrow** 』and『 **Energy Bolt** 』would be completely useless against the monster's overwhelming defense while『 **Life Drain** 』was a skill that could only be used as a last resort if they were low on HP. With those options eliminated, the only skill he had left to rely on was...

" _Spiral Javelin huh... I'll need some time before I can launch it_ " The skill was definitely powerful enough to breach a hole in the zombie's defenses for sure but he needed to use as much of his MP as possible so that it would kill it in one blow.

" _Hold on, if my MP reaches almost close to 0 will that mean [ **Team Battle** ] will be disabled? Shit, I wish I had tested this out earlier and prepared MP recovery items_" he inwardly cursed as his brain went into overdrive trying to ascertain the best course of action. The only items in his inventory were HP restoring items and so he was at a loss at what to do to restore his mana to keep up party mode.

"Oi Jee-Han, what's the plan? It's coming..." Sun-Il's noticeably sharp voice snapped Jee-Han out of his thoughts and he focused back on the zombie that had begun howling like a werewolf. It echoed throughout the entirety of the Illusion Barrier as Jee-Han covered his ears to drown it out.

"We get that your upset already, so shut the hell up!" He screamed at the zombie while Sun-Il and Sae-Young chuckled at his reaction.

After it had finished howling, the troll zombie faced the four humans that had dared to cause it so much damage and raised one of its fists into the air. It then pounded said fist into the ground, causing a miniature earthquake to erupt as it continued to stick its hand into the floor.

Sun-Il merely raised his eyebrow at the spectacle. "What's that crazy thing doing?" The actions of the zombie never ceased to amaze him.

"I don't know, but we might as well take this chance to hit it with everything we got. I'm going to use『 **Spiral Javelin** 』so I need you guys to cover for me!"

"Oh? That powerful spell you created before right? Nice, that'll really do some damage" Sun-Il agreed wholeheartedly while the two girls just stared curiously at Jee-Han at the mention of this new skill.

"What? He made a new skill?" Sae-Young asked where upon Sun-Il inclined his head.

"Yup, it's a pretty impressive move he created. Just watch and you'll see"

"He created his own skill? Is he perhaps a magician as well? I never knew he was so skilled..." Shi-Yun's voice trailed off in admiration at observing Jee-Han whom now rose in her evaluation of him. She pegged him as a weak coward but in this battle alone, he had proved himself to be quite the capable strategist and cunning individual, not even mentioning the benefits of his strange power. He was a lot different from the crying weakling she had rescued not too long ago.

Jee-Han blushed a bit at the fixated gazes from the girls but shook his head, attempting to concentrate. He gathered ki in the middle of his palm and let his mana flow into the center of the ball of energy that was produced. Immediately, the sphere morphed and began to take the shape of a white javelin that made the nearby inhabitants stare in disbelief at the boy's skill in moulding his ki.

Shi-Sen's eyes slightly widened in amazement and even Sun-Oh couldn't help but let out a surprised huff as he never expected this.

"That brat... to think he could manipulate ki to such an extent" Shi-Sen's eyes fell towards Sun-Oh. "Did you teach him that?"

Sun-Oh merely shook his head. "Of course not. I may have given the boy several basic books to learn but what he's doing right now is completely different to what we teach in the Chunbumoon. That manipulation of ki... that brat's power really is unfair" He huffed.

Shi-Sen was curious to know more about it but judging by Sun-Oh's expression, he wouldn't speak further. He cursed internally at the old man's stubbornness and turned his attention to his wife.

"What do you think?"

Shi-Yan who was also observing produced a frown as a hand made her way to her cheek, as if mimicking the act of deep in thought.

"I don't think any of our juniors has that level of control..."

Shi-Sen could only frown at that news and focused his attention to the mysterious boy. His interest in him was faint at first but after seeing the effects he had on his companions and now this, he couldn't deny that he wanted to know more about the nature of his abilities.

Back with Jee-Han, he poured as much mana as he could into the『 **Spiral Javelin** 』that began to rotate and produced a high pitched screech the more it spun. From the way it was spinning and the power that radiated off of it, it was definitely more powerful than the one he used against the Legion Zombie. With this, he shouldn't have any problems wiping out the troll zombie. Before that however, a notification appeared.

 **[Team Battle] Mode has been disabled due to the lack of mana to sustain it.**

 **All party members will have any buffs and debuffs removed from their status.**

" _Shit, so I was right_..."

As he predicted, the new party feature he had discovered hadn't come without a cost and needed his mana to supply it. He would have known about it if he practiced it before but it wasn't a big deal to Jee-Han right now since the zombie was about to die anyway.

However, Jee-Han along with the rest of the group had been naive as to think the zombie wouldn't do anything to stop them.

Suddenly, a tumbling vibration in the ground alerted everyone's attention as Shi-Yun had looked downwards. Her eyes went wide in surprise when from underneath where she stood, the hand of the troll zombie sprouted and grabbed her completely.

"Wha-!?" she was completely helpless as she was raised into the air.

"Damn it!" Sun-Il grimaced.

Sae-Young was at a complete loss of words. "What the hell!?"

"Shi-Yun!" Jee-Han called as he lost his focus and the attack he had been preparing lost its balance and evaporated into thin air.

"Fuck I lost my concentration and wasted all that mana!" He cursed but knew there were more important things at hand as he watched Shi-Yun desperately try to break free from the zombie's grip.

Sun-Il quickly took action and sprang forward to get the girl down but unfortunately, things wouldn't go his way.

"Watch out!" Sung-Gong shouted but it was far too late.

In a flash, he was intercepted by a large ooze of black sludge and his body was flung backwards where he collided with a city street pole.

"S-Sun-Il!" Jee-Han feared the worst as he watched his fallen comrade be hit with the putrid ooze and prayed that he was alright. He never wanted to imagine what fate befell his friend if his body had even grazed that stuff.

"That bastard played us!" Sae-Young's desperate voice rang out as she swiftly ran towards Sun-Il who was kneeling on one knee and looked as if he was in a great deal of pain. His body was exhibiting a green like aura like from before and Jee-Han sighed in relief when he saw that the black ooze hadn't corroded his skin, yet anyway.

"I'm... fine... I used my inner ki to create a barrier..."

Sae-Young observed how the acid wasn't at all affecting his skin and in her heart she was beyond relieved. However, based on his exhaustion, Sun-Il must have used a tremendous amount of inner ki in doing so and was left almost completely drained.

She figured he'd be fine after he rested for a bit and turned her eyes to the captured Shi-Yun who looked as if she was in serious anguish as her face twisted in disgust from either being captured or being held by such a grotesque thing.

The troll zombie who at this point had gained the advantage had already began snarling at the spectacle before it and reached its other free arm out and stretched it towards the kneeling Sun-Il.

"Like I'd let you!" Sae-Young moved as quickly as she could to intercept the attack and threw her hands up to guard against the approaching hand. However, the huge fist opened up and instead of punching her, it grabbed Sae-Young who hadn't expected it to change that quickly as she too was lifted into the air, helpless to break free.

"Argh! I was caught again, damn it all!" She tried her best but it proved fruitless as this time, the monster's grip on her body had become extremely tight and she felt herself losing consciousness.

"N-Noona!" Jee-Han cried helplessly as he watched the disaster play out in front of him. With both Sae-Young and Shi-Yun captured and Sun-Il utterly exhausted, he was the only left who could actively move. He looked at the current status of his teammates and paled when he saw the girl's HP bars continue to drop at a staggeringly fast rate.

" _Shit! At this rate, they're going to die! W-What can I do!? Think Jee-Han, think! Think damn it or else your friends are going to die!"_ Drips of sweat fell from his face like a river as he didn't know what to do. With no MP left, he couldn't use any of his magic and if he tried to approach the girls carelessly like Sun-Il, then he would be on the receiving end of the troll's counterattack.

Jee-Han swiftly stole a glance to the still stationary Sung-Gong and understood now that this is what he meant by not underestimating the zombie. It was league's above the riff raff that Jee-Han had killed before and was clearly at a level where even a combined effort of experienced martial artists would be troubled. He had taken his advantage for granted and now, his friends were paying the price for his decision.

Jee-Han clenched his fists and gritted his teeth at observing the girls struggle in pain and Sun-Il pant heavily, feeling guilty over the fact that they followed his plan and ended up this way.

Becoming desperate, the idea of using 『 **I.D Escape** 』became Jee-Han's only life line as he reluctantly threw his hand into the air. However, he slowly brought it back down as he recalled that Sung-Gong's Illusion Barrier was being repaired by the combined efforts of the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon. If he were to attempt to break it and the troll zombie was able to freely roam in the real world, it wouldn't be pretty.

Sun-Il who was kneeling turned his sights to his pathetic looking friend and frowned heavily. "Stop spacing out dumbass, keep your eyes in front! This is a battlefield so man up!" Sun-Il's voice was less sharp than what it was before but it was enough to get Jee-Han to focus ahead as the zombie had spit out more sludge towards him.

"M-Mana Shield!" Jee-Han quickly activated his only defensive move and used up all of his mana to create a three layered shield. Clearly because he was desperate and not thinking straight, he ended up using more mana than what he thought necessary but it proved to be the correct decision as the shield couldn't block the black sludge in its entirety. Two of the layers had been broken into and the last one was barely able to cover the acidic sludge as Jee-Han quickly deactivated the shield and jumped back.

" _That was close..._ " He thought before glaring daggers the zombie who seemed a bit annoyed that it missed but quickly got over it and turned its attention to the captured girls. A dark and sinister smile crept upon its face as Jee-Han seemed to guess what it was about to do.

The troll began to twirl its stretched out hands at a frightening speed, clearly intent on tossing the chucking the two girls and Jee-Han moved himself to stop the zombie but feared he wouldn't be quick enough.

" _If it's noona, she'll be fine! I have to believe that since her VIT is the highest among us... but Shi-Yun won't survive that throw in her condition!"_

With all of his might, he raced forward and jumped high into the air where the troll zombie had planned on throwing Shi-Yun. In one swift motion, it released the two girls and they went flying in opposite directions, their velocity increasing by the second. Using both the『 **Chunbu Foot Technique** 』and『 **Chunbu Outer Ki** 』technique, Jee-Han was narrowly able to intercept the thrown Shi-Yun but the impact from the throw was absolutely terrifying and he felt his body soar through the air. He made it his top priority to hold on tightly to the unconscious woman to make sure she wouldn't receive a single scratch.

"Jee-Han!" Sun-Il cried out in desperation as he watched his best friend and Shi-Yun get flung across the city. In truth, Sun-Il wanted to tell Jee-Han to go after Sae-Young while he went after Shi-Yun but Jee-Han had moved quicker than Sun-Il could speak and he was left unable to do a thing as Sae-Young was now headed straight for a wall. At that speed, even if she was more durable now she wouldn't get out of that unscathed and he feared for the worst before...

"Hup!"

Sae-Young's soaring body had come to a stop as Sung-Gong caught the woman in question with his only remaining arm and skid across the city streets, coming to a stop at a nearby intersection. He looked down at the girl who was coughing heavily and breathing in an out, sighing in relief as he feared she would have died even before she hit the wall.

Her consciousness returning, Sae-Young's eyes slowly flickered slowly and her blurry vision had cleared up.

"Wha.." Her voice was weak but it also held traces of the proud and strong woman everyone knew she was. In no time, her vitality had returned and her eyes opened wide while she distanced herself from Sung-Gong who had a confused look on his face.

"Wha...where did you...?" Her question wasn't filled with hostility but more of a strange sense of confirmation as she tried to gather information before she passed out.

"You were flung halfway across the city and I caught you." He bluntly explained as Sae-Young recovered from her stumbling and directed a careful but friendly gaze towards him.

"I see... I guess I owe you one."

Sung-Gong shook his head as his gaze fell downwards. "Don't be. I started this mess so this was the least I could do"

"Hmm... well your right about that. This whole mess was your fault so you should at least take some responsibility for it"

An awkward silence followed as Sung-Gong was a bit perplexed at the woman's blunt but truthful words and he absently wondered in his heart if she was some sort of demon before perishing the thought and reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small blue pill and tossed it over to Sae-Young.

She raised an eyebrow at the unknown object in her hands "What's this?"

"Give it to that friend of yours with the weird power. I saw that he lost quite a bit of his energy when he was trying to use that flashy skill from earlier. That pill can revitalize some of his energy back but it's the only one I got so tell him he better not waste it. He won't receive his compensation if he doesn't do his fair share"

Sae-Young could only cast a skeptical gaze at Sung-Gong before she clenched it in her hands and a small grin appeared on her face.

"I'll do that. I suppose this somewhat makes up for you causing this mess so I'll leave it at that. Later!" With that, she was off.

Sung-Gong could only sigh in amazement as he watched the girl head over towards Jee-Han's direction.

"Make things up, huh..."

He then looked in the direction of the taunting troll zombie and knitted his eyebrows. His work wasn't done yet as he floated into the air and headed straight towards it.

* * *

"Ugh..."

Shi-Yun's eyes blinked slowly as she began to regain her senses. She felt some pain in several places on her body but surprisingly, it didn't hurt as much as she predicted it would. Her eyes flushed all the way open and she rose up as she looked around her surroundings, noticing that she was on the rooftop of a somewhat damaged building.

When she looked at her body up and down and at the damages, she couldn't understand how she could have received barely any damage from that attack until the slow breathing of a person standing behind her caught her attention. She swiftly turned around to see the familiar classmate she had been cooperating with up till now; Han Jee-Han have his back against the wall as his body was limp.

"Han Jee-Han!" the woman cried as she swiftly rushed to his side and felt his heartbeat. Her mind was put at ease when she heard the sound of his heart thumping; thankfully he was still breathing.

"How did he...?" Shi-Yun's mind couldn't comprehend how he had sustained such damages but it quickly occurred to her that his body was directly behind her's and that the wall behind Jee-Han was heavily damaged. It only took a few seconds to figure out that he had shielded her with his body from the impact.

Shi-Yun was dumbfounded at seeing the previously weak classmate that she pegged as nothing but a coward in such a state only after risking his life to protect her. A sense of shame burdened her heart at how a proud member of the Yunhonmoon such as herself needed saving by someone who shouldn't have been caught up in this mess in the first place. More than that however, she felt ashamed that she had misjudged the boy to such an extent. How could anyone who risked his life and received such wounds be called a coward?

She clenched her fists tightly and brought his body close to her's as she rested a hand on his chest. The contents of her soul burned passionately as she allowed her ki to flow into Jee-Han's body while she activated the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』. She winced as her body wasn't in the best condition to be doing such a technique but she didn't care, she was going to save him no matter what. Having said that, her proficiency in using the skill was far from the best and she wasn't expecting him to make a full recovery, just enough to keep him alive.

"...Uh..."

His weak voice called out as his eyes began to flicker open. In no time at all and faster than what Shi-Yun could have ever hoped for , the boy had sprung back to life and he looked as good as new while she laid his body against the wall with a fascinated expression on her face. The boy's recovery rate was simply... astounding.

"How are you feeling, Han Jee-Han?" She asked, more gentle with her words than usual.

Jee-Han blinked several times before he looked directly at Shi-Yun.

"Where... Ah! Shi-Yun, are you alright!?" His loud voice and exasperated expression startled Shi-Yun for a bit before she nodded, noting how odd he was to worry about her before himself.

"Yes I'm fine. I'm more worried about you, your injuries were much worse than mine but you seem to be fine..."

Jee-Han just sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he smiled. "Heh, I'm alot tougher than people give me credit for. Sorry if I worried ya, I didn't expect that monster to throw you guys so suddenly so my body just moved."

Shi-Yun produced a wry smile at the boy's reckless actions before she bowed respectfully, alarming Jee-Han.

"Please forgive my uselessness during the battle; I am ashamed as a Yunhonmoon member to have caused you such discomfort. I am in your debt."

Jee-Han was at a loss of words on how to respond to the woman's sudden humility before he stood up and rubbed some dust off his clothes.

"Don't worry about it, I was to blame as well. I'm sure you guys could have beaten that thing if you all fought against it but I was the one who decided on the plan and it failed" Though he said that, the idea of having the Yunhonmoon in his debt made him get excited and a smile crept upon his face. "Though, if you're really grateful, you could lend me some of your clan's skill books"

Shi-Yun stopped bowing and inclined her head with a surprised expression at the sudden terms he had stated. Why would he want her clan's skill books if he wasn't a user of martial arts? However, since she owed him a debt and she always paid back her debts, she didn't have a problem with it as long as they were the basic ones.

"Of course, I'll ask my grandfather as soon as this battle is over"

"Alright! Let's finish this battle already, I want my compensation!" Jee-Han grinned happily and he pumped his fist into the air, faintly noticing the new notification that had appeared below his eyes.

 **«By using your negotiation skills to incur a favor in this situation, WIS increases by ! »**

"Huh, I just gained more wisdom, sweet!" Jee-Han celebrated as his mood had been noticeably improved compared to before.

Watching her classmates rather odd behavior, Shi-Yun could only produce a puzzled expression as the boy known as Han Jee-Han was definitely an odd existence.

"Oi! Jee-Han!"

The familiar voice caught Jee-Han and Shi-Yun by surprise as they saw Sae-Young falling from the air and land in front of them.

"Noona! Are you okay?" Jee-Han's worries weren't for nothing as the last time he had seen her, she was being flung across the city.

Sae-Young grinned with a "V" sign. "Yup, Sung-Gong helped me out"

Not just Jee-Han but also Shi-Yun was surprised to hear this news. Sung-Gong had actually saved her? Though Jee-Han suspected he was a man who wasn't as bad as he appeared, Shi-Yun thought poorly of him so to her, it was quite surprising.

"I-I see, well that's good to hear. Is Sun-Il alright as well?"

Sae-Young shook her head. "Don't know, he should still be where the troll zombie is. We should hurry back... oh! Before that..." She reached into her bra and pulled out the pill that Sung-Gong had given her and tossed it to Jee-Han. The boy wondered how or why woman stuffed things into there but saved that discussion for another time as he stared at the pill.

"And this is..?"

"It's supposed to be a pill that can restore your energy or magic or whatever you guys call it. There's only one so don't waste it, alright?"

Jee-Han held the pill in his hand and tightly gripped it, thinking about how experienced Sung-Gong must have been to prepare something like this in such an emergency.

"I got it"

He popped the pill into his mouth and opened his status screen, noticing his mana rise from empty to a little over half of his total amount. He felt the flow of his mana returning as his body appeared to have gotten lighter and his complexion looked better.

Sae-Young smiled at the results before she turned to look in the troll zombie's direction that had completely ignored the four of them and turned its sights towards the crack where Jee-Han and others broke in from.

"Not good, it looks like that thing wants to go where the Yunhonmoon guys and gramps are"

Shi-Yun's eyebrows twitched at that sudden piece of news and she gritted her teeth.

"Unacceptable! I will never allow that beast to attack my clan mates!"

Sae-Young scratched her head. "I'm with you there but that zombie is quite the hassle to deal with. I'm usually all for a frontal assault but..." She couldn't deny the fatigue that was weighing her down and frowned in annoyance. "None of us are in any condition to being doing such a thing, right?"

"T-That's..." Shi-Yun had a troubled expression as she couldn't refute the older woman's words.

As the two girls continued to think of an alternative, Jee-Han was deep in thought at how he was going to defeat the troll zombie. He could use the『 **Spiral Javelin** 』again from this distance to hit the zombie but now that he had seen its power at work, he wasn't confident that his skill could wipe it out completely. He only had one more shot and if he wasted it like before, there was no telling what was going to happen.

" _Just increasing its power won't be enough... I need to be able to hit it with overwhelming strength that will destroy it completely...overwhelming destructive power... destructive power... explosive... wait..."_ His eyes turned to the distressed Shi-Yun who was glaring at the zombie as if she was looking at the Sung-Gong who harmed her clan.

" _That's it! I've never tried adding elemental properties to the Spiral Javelin. The wind pressure I used before wasn't actual wind magic; it was just the after effect of spinning the javelin to add piercing power. If I can add flames to it, how powerful could it be!?"_

"Guys!" Jee-Han called out abruptly, altering the two girls who had been surprised by his outburst.

Jee-Han smirked.

"I've got an idea on how we can destroy that thing once and for all"

* * *

Standing on the outside of the Illusion Barrier, Sun-Oh carefully looked around the city for the whereabouts of his grandchildren and the gamer boy but was unable to find them. He had seen what had happened and almost instinctively rushed in to assist them but decided against it. He had already made the decision to let the kids handle the situation while they fixed the broken Illusion Barrier. Besides, if Shi-Sen wasn't about to jump in when his granddaughter was captured, then the least he could do was believe in his own grandchildren. That included the geek, no matter how inexperienced he was.

"Ara, looks like they're in trouble" Shi-Yan's voice chimed into Sun-Il's deep thoughts as he glanced at the unworried clan head. Even she didn't look the least bit concerned and had the same seductive smile she always wore.

Shi-Sen said nothing as he continued to observe the events unfold. He thought he was mistaken but before Shi-Yun was thrown across the city; his eyes caught that classmate of her's jump in to catch her body.

" _So that brat wasn't as cowardly as he looked..._ " He had to change his evaluation of the boy before the approaching figure of the troll zombie caught his attention.

"It looks as if we have company"

Sun-Oh stroked his beard. "Seems so, shall we take care of it or give the youngsters a chance?"

Shi-Yan only shrugged her shoulders. "We already promised not to get involved and the juniors are over there busy fixing the Illusion Barrier"

Sun-Oh understood what she meant in those words and relinquished the idea of stopping the beast. However, if the brats didn't act soon he was going to be forced to break his promise and so his worries were understandable.

Just as he thought so, his senses perceived a large amount of ki being used and not only him but the two other clan heads attention turned towards a building far off in the distance and narrowed their eyes. Though it was a bit hard to see clearly, they had no doubt that Jee-Han was there along with Shi-Yun and Sae-Young. In Jee-Han's hand was the same technique he had tried to use before that was interrupted as he lost his concentration.

"Is that brat using the same move as before?" Shi-Sen inquired.

Shi-Yan smiled earnestly. "Hoho, let's see if this time it will work..."

Sun-Oh frowned before his eyes widened at the unforeseen spectacle. "No... It's different!"

Both clan heads snapped their glances towards the old man as his words confused them. How was it any different than before?

" _Jee-Han... just what are you trying to do?"_

* * *

"Haaaa...!"

Jee-Han unintentionally let out a pained groan as he held the unstable『 **Spiral Javelin** 』in his hand. Like before, he had added in as much mana as he possibly could and was trying his best to keep it from evaporating, which required intense concentration. The pressure from the rotation of the javelin was blowing away his clothes as he struggled to keep his eyes open with all of the wind pressure.

"Hey! Isn't that enough already!? Won't that be enough to destroy the monster!?" Sae-Young exclaimed as she covered her face from the wind. She was honestly in complete amazement at the sheer power radiating from the javelin as she wondered when in the hell did Jee-Han learn to produce something like this.

"Just what exactly is your plan, Jee-Han?" Shi-Yun was in a similar predicament as she tightened her body and squinted her eyes so she wouldn't close them from all that wind pressure.

Jee-Han ignored their words as he concentrated as much as he could and he turned his eyes to Shi-Yun.

"Okay Shi-Yun, I need you to produce some flames!"

"Hah?"

She unintentionally let out a surprised voice as Jee-Han's request had completely taken her off guard.

"Don't hah me! I'm going to combine your flames with my Javelin!"

"Wha..."

Both girls were flabbergasted at the boy's proclamation as Shi-Yun wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to help him but the idea of combining their attacks together was a concept that she had never tried before.

"Just how are you going to pull it off Jee-Han!?" Sae-Young inquired.

Jee-Han grinned at her. "It's simple. I'm going to use the broken aspects of my gamer ability to their fullest. Just watch and see!" He then looked back at Shi-Yun who hesitated for a second before she nodded her head and gave a hardened gaze.

"Very well"

She clasped both of her hands together and activated the『 **Soul Blaze Flame** 』, igniting her soul with her inner ki and in an instant; her body was enveloped in hot blue flames. The flames were blown viciously by the Javelin's wind pressure and she winced as she concentrated to make sure they weren't blown out.

"Will this be sufficient?" She asked with a distressed face.

"That's perfect, now let me handle the rest" Jee-Han closed his eyes.

" _Okay Jee-Han, its game time. You've never done this before but how hard could it be? Gaia has already gave you tools you need to be a badass, now it's time to use em! First up, using_ 『 ** _Spirit Channel_** 』 _to utilize my chi so I can control those flames_..."

"『 **Spirit Channel!** 』"

Instantly, Jee-Han's body felt as if it was on fire as the contents of his soul began to rapidly expand and he felt a substance within his body that was directly opposite of his mana. This was the power to utilize his own inner spirit, in other words his "Chi" which Sun-Il had talked about before. Having did so rather easily, Jee-Han was already prepared for the next step.

" _Next up, absorb the flames... absorb the flames... absorb those god damn flames!"_

He repeated that in his mind almost endlessly as he tried to draw in the flames that Shi-Yun was putting out. Looking at his SP Bar, a grinned appeared on his face when he saw the yellow bar rapidly decrease and while doing so, he observed the blue flames around Shi-Yun that slowly moved towards his Javelin. It was a beautiful scene, watching the dazzling flames wrap themselves around his own original technique like a perfectly wrapped sandwich. No no, he had to stay focused!

"Ehhhhhh!? It's working!?" Sae-Young was completely in awe at the spectacle as her body trembled from the amount of power coming out of it.

" _Keep going!"_ Jee-Han thought as he concentrated further and almost all of the flames that Shi-Yun had produced had been swallowed by the Javelin. The shape of the Javelin then began to morph as it grew wider and blue flames surrounded its entirety, raising the temperature around them by several degrees.

« **Ding!** **»**

 **A fusion skill has been created through a special action!**

 **By harnessing the power of your mana and chi to combine a nearby flame onto the** 『 **Spiral Javelin** 』 **,** 『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』 **has been created.**

『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) Level 1 EXP 0.00 % / MP: 1200 / SP: 250** 』

 **70 % increase in defense penetration** **  
** **800 % increase in piercing damage** **  
** **Special Properties: [Mid] Burning Damage, [Low] Explosion Damage** **  
** **Cast time: 10 seconds** **  
** **Cooldown: 5 minutes**

 **Only an individual who possesses exceptional talent in mana control could create this skill.**

Jee-Han's excitement couldn't be contained as he happily howled at his achievement. "Oh my god, it worked!"

Shi-Yun fell on one knee as the last of her ki had been depleted and she panted heavily, droplets of sweat falling from her forehead. Though it was a gamble, she decided to put her faith in Jee-Han whom she previously doubted and wanted to make it up too.

"I've given you everything Han Jee-Han...use my power as you see fit" She exclaimed before she collapsed on to the ground.

Jee-Han was a bit startled at seeing her fall before he hardened his gaze at the troll zombie.

"Aa, I'll see to it that bastard gets what's coming to him. Noona, please take care of her"

Sae-Young had already moved over towards the exhausted Shi-Yun and laid her on her knees before smiling up at Jee-Han.

"You got it. I'm surprised to see our Jee-Han act so manly, you won't disappoint us now right?" She said with a teasing face as Jee-Han nodded at her words and also smiled.

"I'll show you why I'm the Gamer!" He exclaimed as he held the new Javelin in his hands and aimed it towards the troll zombie. He only had one shot and he knew his chances of hitting it were slim but he didn't have time to worry about that right now.

The troll zombie continued its approach to the outside of the Illusion Barrier where the clan head's where standing before its survival instincts kicked in and it turned around to see far off in the distance something that made a shiver run down its spine. Even though it was confident that it had taken care of the troublesome pests from before, they were still alive.

" _Graaaaaaaaaaah!"_ It snarled as it turned back around slowly to meet Jee-Han's gaze, signalling to him that now was the time.

"By the powers bestowed upon me as the main character of this story, pierce through that son of a bitch!" That was all Jee-Han said as he launched the burning Javelin towards the stationary zombie that instinctively felt that if it were to get hit by that thing, its chances of survival would be fatal.

" _Graaa..._ " Though it thought that, it wasn't worried as a confident chuckle escaped its lips and it watched the Javelin approach it with laughable speed. The stupid human must not have realized that unless he possessed superhuman strength, there was no way he could have thrown that Javelin with enough power to hit it.

"Damn it, it's not fast enough!" Jee-Han winced at noticing the decreasing velocity of the Javelin as he cursed his lack of strength.

"Don't worry Jee-Han, it will hit" Sae-Young reassured the distressed boy as he cast a doubtful look towards her.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Keep watching, _those_ _guys_ still hasn't given up, right?"

"Those... guys?"

Jee-Han was utterly confused on whom she was referring to as he turned his eyes back to the launched Javelin.

As the Javelin's speed began to decrease and its trajectory began to wobble, the troll zombie chuckled and raised its hands to produce some vines to intercept it. As long as the Javelin didn't touch its main body, it would no doubt survive. However, what would happen next was far outside the zombie's calculations.

From the shadows of a nearby alleyway, a figure appeared and dashed forward to align himself right under the Javelin as the spectators all nearby let out a surprised gasp.

"Is that...!?" Jee-Han's eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing as his best friend, Sun-Il had run underneath his Javelin.

Sae-Young smirked. "Told ya"

Sun-Il panted heavily as he continued to run below the Javelin that continued to soar and he closed his eyes, focusing as much ki as he possibly could into his right foot. This was going to be a do or die gamble but since it involved Jee-Han, he was more than willing to take the risk.

His eyes flickered open and in that instant, he turned his body around and jumped into the air to shadow the Javelin underneath. Twisting his body, he brought his body back and he stretched the leg where he had concentrated all of ki into before glaring at the troll zombie who was caught off guard.

"I'm not just a supporting character!"

Sun-Il's leg shot forward and smashed the burning Javelin from the back, propelling it with unimaginable speed as the troll zombie stared dumbfounded. It tried to move out of the way to lessen the incoming damage but it suddenly felt tremendous pain its feet, noticing that two dark spears had been impaled into them.

" _Grehhhhhh!?_ "

Its shock was understandable as the beast looked high into the sky and saw Sung-Gong floating in the air with an arrogant grin on his face as he adjusted his black shades.

"Try not to hold this against me troll, I had to make up for my earlier blunders."

That was the last thing the troll zombie would hear in its short life as the burning javelin pierced right through its chest and moments later, an explosion went off as the zombie was covered in blue flames from head to toe.

" _GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh!?"_

The cries of its unbearable pain echoed throughout the Illusion Barrier as its body slowly disintegrated and in a puff of black smoke, its body crumbled and there was nothing left of the beast except a pile of black ash that evaporated into thin air.

There was dead silence on the battle field as the participants of the battle tried to take in the victory they had just obtained.

"We... We fucking did it!" Jee-Han exclaimed enthusiastically as he threw his fist into the air and roared as loud as he possibly could. Sae-Young watched the ecstatic boy with a warm smile and Shi-Yun who had recovered enough of her energy also watched but with a baffled expression. In this battle alone, her view on the mysterious boy had changed drastically and she didn't know why she was doing it, but she smiled. Whether it be because the battle was over or because Jee-Han said that he was going to save her clan mates, the smile on her face was full of genuine happiness.

" _What an odd feeling... though it isn't a bad one..._ "

It was a long and hard fought battle but they had done it; they had won.

However, though the battle may have been won, the war was far from over as the events of today would be the catalyst that would upset the very balance of the Abyss, with Jee-Han right in the middle.

* * *

 **【** **Outside the Illusion Barrier** **】**

Standing on a watchtower in the distance, observing the drawn out battle between the four individuals and the troll zombie was a mysterious entity that wore a flashy outfit with excessive ornaments and vibrant colors. Their face was covered with a bizarre clown mask that had a terrifying wide grin on the front.

"Oya... Oya..."

The events that had just transpired within the contents of the Illusion Barrier seemed to leave the clown in a state of utter confusion as they leaked out a sigh in amazement.

Their observations of the previous battle were intended to focus on the Black Summoner, Sung-Gong whom they had purposely set up in order to eliminate. After gathering enough souls of zombies to cure his precious daughter, the man himself would then fall victim to the birth of a powerful unique monster that wouldn't have any trouble eliminating the weakened ability user and his death would be a beautiful sight to behold. The mere thought of watching his body crumble into paste made the clown absolutely ecstatic as they squirmed in a disgusting manner.

At least, that was supposed to happen.

Their plans had spiraled completely out of control and the interference of these new individuals had ruined everything. The Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon were neutral when it came to Sung-Gong so why had they decided to assist him? However, that wasn't what intrigued them the most. It was the appearance of the mysterious boy with a power they had never seen before, the brown haired student who called himself Han Jee-Han. Being able to coordinate other individuals, using flashy magic and now being able to utilize chi, something a magician wouldn't be able to do?

"Just what is that boy..." Their voice held traces of curiosity, anger, bewilderment, and interest as they acknowledged that the sea of confusion they were feeling was mostly caused by this unfamiliar boy's appearance.

"Kukukuku..." The sound of the masked stranger's cackling could be heard.

"How interesting. That power... the full extent of his abilities are unknown. He'll net me quite a large sum if I can get my hands on him."

In a flash, they disappeared into the middle of the night, intent of discovering the mystery of the boy.

"It looks like I'll have to send him to【 **Paradise** 】"

* * *

 **A/N: (Faints) After writing this chapter, I feel like taking a longggg nap. It was easily the longest chapter I've ever written in my life and it was supposed to be alot shorter but I simply didn't feel content with leaving you guys to wait for the conclusion of the long battle. Well, think of it as a make up for all the weeks I missed before!**

 **What'd you guys think? We had our first team battle! I always found this system intriguing and was annoyed that the author of The Gamer never went further into it so I tried my hands with it. Also, Jee-Han learned an impressive new one shot move, the Blazing Spiral Javelin! Before you ask, the reason why Jee-Han didn't have to name this one was because Blazing Spiral Javelin is a "Fusion" move that combines the flames of the Soul Blaze Fist with the Spiral Javelin. Gaia took it upon herself to name the technique for him as a Fusion Move will always have an existing name, whereas original techniques will need to be named.**

 **So this concludes the Zombie arc that was the introduction to Jee-Han's powers and the setting of The Gamer. We'll be moving into the next big arc which I call the "Paradise" arc where Jee-Han gets targeted by an organization after showing off his powers during this battle. Silly Jee-Han, he should really be careful.**

 **Two important characters will be introduced in the next arc so that'll be something to look forward too, no spoilers of course but I'm sure some of you already guessed one of them.**

 **As I mentioned before, this is the where the divergence really starts and while there will be similar characters like before, they're interactions with Jee-Han and importance in the plot will be drastically different.**

 **I suppose that's all I have left to say, I'll be taking a week break to rejuvenate myself so I can prepare the next few chapters in advance.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Zombie Slayer》 **  
** **Level:** 21 (↑5 UP)

 **HP:** 1140/1140 **  
** **MP:** 1480/1480  
 **SP:** 350/350  
 **  
** **STR:** 26 **  
****VIT:** 29 (↑3 UP) **  
** **DEX:** 24 (↑3 UP) **  
** **INT:** 60 **  
** **WIS:** 18 (↑3 UP) **  
** **LUK:** 11 (↑2 UP)

 **Points:** 35 **  
** **Money:** ₩503,000

* * *

 **《Skills》**

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 3  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active): Level 1 **«NEW»**

 **Defensive:**  
• Mana Shield (Active): Level 2 **«↑1 UP»**

 **Support:  
** • Observe (Active) | Lv: 7 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 5 **«↑1 UP»**  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 2  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 5 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive) | Lvl: 5 **«↑1 UP»**  
• Spirit Channel (Active) | Lvl: MAX **«NEW»**  
• Sensory (Passive) | Lvl: MAX **«NEW»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 4 **«↑1 UP»**  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 1  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 2

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active): Level 2  
• ID Escape (Active): Level 1


	12. (Arc 2) Chapter 12

**A/N: Here it is ladies and gentlemen, after nearly a year of hiatus, its time for the first chapter of the 2** **nd** **arc! I don't have any excuses to give you guys for leaving you hanging for such a long period of time. I shouldn't have given you guys false hopes by saying I'd finish it in a few weeks when clearly, that wasn't going to be the case.**

 **From now on, I'll just update whenever I can and not promise any scheduled released dates. That way, even if I do go on hiatus again, you guys won't have to crucify me for lying to you.**

 **In any case, I just want to take the time to thank all of my supporters of this story and your reviews have really been special. This story is far from perfect and I've had to go back and fix alot of chapters either for grammar or because of plot reasons but I'm confident I can keep it on track.**

 **Aside from that, there's nothing else to say and I hope you guys are looking forward to the beginning of the Paradise arc.  
**

 **I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manhwa written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 12**

Amidst the continuous chatter and whispers among numerous people going about their daily lives, a certain individual was seen standing on top of a city street pole. If one saw this person for the first time, the first thing that would cross their minds was that this person was a "clown". Their face and by extension, gender was completed unrecognizable as their build made it hard to judge whether they were a male or female.

Dressed in an outfit that would make many turn their heads twice at how ridiculous it was, this individual had both of their arms behind their back and slowly observed the city streets that were swarmed with humans of all ages. Students chattering with their friends, adults busy on their cell phones, even children running across the street; all fell under this clown's watchful gaze as their attention circled the area.

" _How intriguing... even though these worthless insects know they're existence could be wiped out at any time, they still tread on with their lives so contently. It's so... fascinating~"_

The idea of slaughtering everyone and seeing expressions of pure despair and agony crossed their mind but they desperately resisted doing so. Gaia was watching, there was no need to purposely anger the holy one just for some minor entertainment.

" _Now then, where is it...? Ah!"_

The clown's eyes caught wind of what they were looking for and with graceful movements; they leaped off of the street pole. To onlookers, it would have seemed that they vanished out of thin air but that was incorrect; their movements were just too fast for the human eye to keep track of.

It only took less than a couple of seconds but they had finally reached their destination. While landing on the ground with both of their hands behind their back like earlier, the clown observed the empty lot that was now in front of them. With how the space was designed, it wouldn't be weird to believe that a house should have been constructed there. However, the reality was that there wasn't anything on the property and there never would be until a group of construction workers built it.

However, that kind of logic would only apply to someone unaware of the supernatural events that secretly took place in the world.

The clown reached out in front with their index finger, as if they were trying to poke something that wasn't physically there. Their finger just remained motionless in the air until a faint glow was seen forming on the tip. In one swift motion, they swiped down with their coated index finger and as they did so, the fabric of the air itself began to distort, as if they were opening a zipper.

Once that was taken care of, they stepped forward into that distortion of space and in front of them; an entirely new scenery had taken shape. The previously empty property space was now replaced by an extravagant mansion that stretched for miles. Statues made of pure gold and a beautiful garden that was quite obviously taken excellent care of; it was truly a sight that only those of extreme wealth could ever hope to obtain.

As the clown continued forward, still observing the view of such a remarkable place, his attention was drawn to the numerous maids that were present at the entrance of the mansion. Each of them was a world class beauty of their own, possessing stunning faces and curvaceous physiques that could entice the lustful desire of any man. In the face of such beauties however, the clown wasn't fazed in the slightest as they had been accustom to seeing them several times already.

The maids all bowed to the clown as respectfully as they could, clearly aware of the clown's standing compared to their own.

"We have been expecting your arrival, Jackal-nim"

They were all in sync with one another to a flawless degree, making one wonder if they had practised speaking those lines in secret.

"Where is the young master?"

A maid with light blue hair standing at the end of the line spoke among the group. "The master is currently awaiting your presence in the meeting room"

"Is that so..."

The clown didn't spare the maids a second glance as they passed right by them and entered the estate. Unsurprisingly, the interior of the estate was just as grand as the front yard, with expensive antiques and decorations spread all over the halls. The entire value of every possession seen just in the main lobby would amount to an immeasurable amount of fortune that could be worth an entire's countries national treasury.

After admiring the antiques, the clown forged on as they began climbing the grand steps coated in high class red fabric and continued their ascension upwards to the master's chambers. There were over fifty rooms that were located across the estate but the meeting room, where the young master carried out his duties, was placed in the center and had the second largest living space, just short of the master's sleeping quarters.

The clown had reached the top of the stairs and now stood in front of an enormous golden door that even had a golden handle, as if the person who owned the house was attempting to flaunt his wealth at every opportunity.

A faint sigh escaped the clown's mask but due to the light tone that was used, it was impossible to tell if it belonged to a man or a woman.

" _The young master wastes his money too much..._ "

Sparring no more time on trivial thoughts, the clown proceeded to knock on the door.

"State your name"

A response came immediately, an indication that whoever was inside was waiting for someone, just as the maid had claimed.

"I have returned, young master"

"...Jackal is it? Enter"

Having gained the approval to enter, the clown that was called Jackal made their way into the meeting room where their eyes were now drawn towards the man that had been expecting their arrival.

"You're late"

Matching his mature and commanding voice; the figure of an intimidating gentleman was seen sitting with his legs crossed, both arms folded on top of one another on a rolling chair behind a wide steel desk. The interior of the room was designed to look like the headquarters of a yakaza group with bulletin boards across the walls, several shelves that had numerous books surrounding the walls, and a wide open window that gave those who entered a full view of the city behind.

More than that however, anyone who first caught a glimpse of the youthful but sophisticated man sitting in front of the clown would immediately identify him as handsome, enough so that it wouldn't be strange to think that he was a celebrity. He had silky brown hair that was combed back along with piercing amver eyes. His well dressed attire that consisted of a black suit underneath a black trench coat was coated in luscious brown fur and gave one the impression that he looked like a successful business man.

"Please excuse my tardiness, young master"

The clown bowed respectfully towards the owner of the mansion, moving their arms in a forced manner that made the act look more dramatic than necessary.

In the face of such a "performance", the owner merely snorted in amusement as he was clearly not bothered by the clown's antics.

However, that couldn't be said for another inhabitant of the room.

"Grrrrr..."

The sound of a fearsome beast was heard growling as the clown's eyes glanced over to beside the desk where their master was sitting and was drawn to a magnificent creature. With white skin that was as pure as snow and deep crimson eyes that looked to penetrate the very fiber of your soul; a fully grown tiger shot a displeased and hostile glare towards the clown.

Having been on the receiving end of that glare more times than they could count, the clown could only furrow their brows underneath the mask and wonder why the beast was still not accepting of them.

" _I heard that animals have a primal instinct towards those that are dangerous but is that really it...?"_

The tiger, who had taken a few steps forward, looked just about ready to pounce towards the clown and rip them into shreds at the drop of a hat. With its razor sharp teeth now visible and its lengthy tail wagging violently, the lion tiger needed to hear the command from its master to devour the clown.

However...

"Bester, enough"

That command would never come as in an instant, the hostility that was clogging up the room vanished immediately. The words of the tiger's master took priority over anything else and if he commanded him to stop, that was all he could do. Backing down, the tiger retreated back to its original position beside the master and curled its body so that it could rest in a comfortable position.

After Bester had seemingly calmed down, the young master of the mansion chuckled in good humor. "I see that Bester still isn't fond of you"

The clown merely shrugged. "It can't be helped. The young master's pet has never been comfortable with me"

"Perhaps if you stopped dressing like a circus reject and removed that mask, he wouldn't act like that"

"Hmm..."

The clown put a finger onto the bottom tip of their mask, as if mimicking the act of being deep in thought. It was obvious to anyone that they didn't consider doing what the man had told him even for an instant.

"... Forget it, let's get back to business"

"By your will"

After the clown had bowed once again to show their approval, they held up their right hand and snapped their fingers. As if it were magic, a photograph was now edged in between their thumb and index finger and they tossed it towards the mansion owner who caught it. He eyed the contents of the photograph for a good minute before a frown appeared on his face and he cast a doubtful gaze towards the clown.

"What, your stalking little boys now?"

"Quite the tasteless joke, young master. That boy in the photograph is the target this time"

"...This brat? You informed me that you had found quite the catch and you present me with nothing but a dumb looking student?"

As expected, the clown had predicted he would act this way and let out a hard laugh that echoed throughout the room.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, this boy is truly special"

"Hou... For you to say such a thing..."

No matter what angle the man looked at the kid in the photo from, he couldn't see how this would warrant someone of Jackal's character to get involved in. Was he missing something?

"What's his ability rank and how long has it been since he awakened his powers?"

"It couldn't have been longer than a month that the boy discovered his ability as his inexperience on the battlefield was quite obvious. As for the rank, I'd wager he has to be at least a 3rd tier user"

"...Is that right?"

When Jackal had mentioned that the boy was the user of a 3rd tier ability, a small glint of anxiousness was seen in the owner's eyes. In the Abyss, abilities were classified under many different names by many different organizations. However, one of the most popular and widespread hierarchy for ability users was the use of tier, with 1st tier being the highest type of ability and 7th being the lowest, bar short of just being an ordinary human. 1st tier ability users were humans who had gained powers that could rival an entire military unit and had almost limitless potential; the problem was that they were extremely rare. It was said that the chances of a 1st tier natural ability user being born was one in ten million. Following the list downward, an ability user ranked at the 3rd tier could possess power that would allow anyone to become something great in the Abyss, the end result being dependent on their willpower and training. For this boy to be a user of a 3rd tier ability or higher; it had caught the man's interest.

"Hold on, you mentioned at least 3rd tier? Were their problems identifying what his powers were?"

Jackal nodded. "Indeed. From what I witnessed, his power is extremely tricky as he used several unusual techniques that I couldn't narrow down to one category"

"Hmm... you also told me he was involved in a battle? Explain that"

"Yes, the Illusion Barrier that the Black Summoner had purchased from one of my clients was the stage where that boy showcased his powers"

"The Black Summoner? Why was he involved in this matter? Just what are you hiding from me, Jackal?"

Trying to play innocent, Jackal cocked his head to the side to avoid speaking further on the subject. His efforts proved unsuccessful as the sudden hostility emitting from the owner of the mansion was proof of that. Though he kept a neutral and composed face, the seeds of annoyance were carefully hidden behind his powerful eyes.

"Ah~ Please don't exhibit such blood lust, young master. You know how my body reacts to such a thing~"

"..."

In a flash, the tension in the room had ceased as the owner couldn't muster up any more aggression towards the squirming clown. It was such a disgusting sight that he wanted to gouge his own eyes out and live the rest of his life blind.

"So, will【 **Paradise** 】accept this request of mine?"

After he had stopped squirming, Jackal had posed that question in a manner that made it hard to refuse. No, it would be better to say that if the owner had refused this request, Jackal would continue to pursue it, with our without him.

"I'll require more information about this boy but I'll admit, you have my attention"

"Excellent, I knew I could depend on you. However, there is something that I must bring to light now"

"...I swear if you damaged this boy's potential by doing something stupid like what you did last time, I'm going to- "

"Of course not!" The clown instantly rejected the notion of what their master was thinking of as they awkwardly coughed to get the conversation back on track. "You see, this boy is apparently connected to both the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon, both of whom govern the Seoul region"

The owner of the mansion furrowed his brows at this unexpected piece of information.

"What kind of relationship does he have with them?"

"They don't seem to be particularly close but I witnessed several members from both sides assisting him during the battle"

"...Why do I feel as if you're purposely leaving out important pieces of information from me?"

"Impossible! How could I, your faithful servant, dare lie to you?"

Seeing him act in such an overly dramatic fashion as if he were reciting the script of a terrible play, the owner was beginning to lose his patience with his supposed "servant" before rubbing his forehead in exasperation. He was running low on energy today due to the tirelessly long meeting he arranged earlier and now had to deal with such a frustrating character on top of that. What did he do to deserve this?

"Young master?"

"Hm? Ah... never mind. I'll speak to the other members about taking on this request, though I won't guarantee anything"

"Thank you very much for the generosity"

"Enough with the pleasantries. I have business to attend too so you may leave"

"By your will"

With nothing else needed to be said, Jackal turned around and left the room as swiftly as he had come in.

"What a troublesome fellow..."

Leaning back in his rolling chair, the owner released a sigh before he turned to the figure of his sleeping pet and reached out to stroke him. The lion purred affectionately at having its master fond over him and now wore a gentle smile on its face.

After his pet was satisfied, the owner picked up the photo once again and heavily frowned, wondering how such an ordinary looking boy could have caught Jackal's attention.

Speaking of Jackal, his reputation among those in the Abyss was legendary as he was one of the most sought after brokers in the world. Brokers, who could be classified under the guise of "Informants", were individuals who observed those with promising abilities and recorded that information to be sold off a multitude of organizations. Information was a powerful tool to possess in the underground market and potential gold mines could be found if you had the right broker at your side.

" _I'll need to recall the members scattered across China... but first, there's something else I need to take care of_ "

With his objective set and his mind clear, the owner was now hoping to get some good shut eye in before he collapsed from overwork. The stressful day of being the owner of such a wealthy estate and being a part of the underground slave market was taking its toll.

Well, since he had chosen this life, he couldn't really complain now could he?

* * *

 **[Han Family Residence]**

"Bwah~ I'm exhausted..."

Jee-Han lied down on his bed and let out a heavy sigh, attempting to calm his nerves that had been going off even after the battle with the Troll Zombie had ended. Without a doubt, it had been his toughest obstacle so far since he started developing his powers and he couldn't believe how frightening it was. Risking his life against such an abomination was something Jee-Han prior to a month ago would have never believed could happen and yet, it did.

" _That was scarier than I thought... but I pulled it off thanks to my friends and Sung-Gon, he really came through for us there"_

Suffice to say, whatever grudge Jee-Han held against the older man for what he did to Sun-Il was long gone after his invaluable assistance in defeating the Troll Zombie. Sun-Il had told Jee-Han that he wasn't a bad guy and while Jee-Han didn't understand what he meant back then, he clearly did now.

It was already confirmed with his battle with the Legion Zombie that boss monsters would have a higher chance at dropping items. Having said that, the items that the Troll Zombie had dropped for Jee-Han were still far beyond what he could have expected.

* * *

 **[An Hour Ago]**

 **«** **You have gained 45,223 Experience!** **»**

 **«** **Your level has increased by 1!** **»**

 **«** **Your level has increased by 1!** **»**

 **«** **Your level has increased by 1!** **»**

 **«** **Your level has increased by 1!** **»**

 **«** **Your level has increased by 1!** **»**

 **«** **You have gained the title "Plague to Zombies"** **»**

"Sweet!"

Jee-Han marveled at the ridiculous amount of experience he had just received, not to mention the new title that he acquired after vanquishing the Troll Zombie. He had gained five levels in one jump, an impressive feat no matter how you looked at it and grinned devilishly as he equipped his new title, replacing the《Zombie Slayer》title he had used previously.

After his body was surrounded by a faint glow, Jee-Han noted the effects of his new title that not only granted him a 50 % increase in physical damage towards undead creatures, but also a 10 % chance of purifying Zombies whenever he landed a critical hit. This meant that if Jee-Han was lucky enough, he could potentially kill any type of undead monster with a single hit! Talk about a broken title!

Satisfied with these gains, Jee-Han turned around to face both Sae-Young and Shi-Yun who were both taken off guard by the strange notifications that had popped up.

"Hey! You guys get some experience from that, right?"

"I-I think so! I leveled up twice, that's a good thing right!?" Sae-Young inquired as she kept trying to poke her hand through the notifications.

"...Han Jee-Han, what does it mean when it says that I have leveled up three times?"

"..."

If it wasn't for the fact that they were much stronger than he was, Jee-Han would have ridiculed the two of them at their noobish questions.

" _It's unfortunate that I wasn't able to set equal distribution, I'm sure I would have gotten a ton more levels. Aw well, guess this'll do for now. Noona and Shi-Yun both gained some levels so Sun-Il should have...oh crap, Sun-Il!_ "

Jee-Han remembered that Sun-Il had exhausted almost all of his strength before when he was hit by the Troll Zombie's sludge and frantically searched for his best friend. He squinted his eyes and saw what he was looking for laying against one of the poles near the remains of the zombie.

"Sun-Il, you alright!?"

Jee-Han's worried plea resounded across the Illusion Barrier as the boy had jumped down from the building and rushed towards his resting friend. When Jee-Han had used his『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』earlier and almost missed, Sun-Il had mustered up whatever energy he had left to make sure that the Javelin hit the Troll Zombie. As a result, the man was currently resting against a street pole, panting heavily as drips of sweat dripped from his face and soaked into his t-shirt.

"Jee-Han? ...Yea I'm fine, d-don't worry about me. More importantly, are you alright?"

"Huh? Yea I'm of course I'm fine, just worry about yourself for once, jeez!"

Jee-Han came off a lot louder than he intended to but Sun-Il didn't seem to mind as a warm smile graced his face.

"That's good to hear..."

It had always been like this; even when they were kids, Sun-Il's top priority was always Jee-Han's safety no matter what. Having now experienced several life and death battles, Jee-Han could understand why his friend felt so protective of him but it didn't make him feel any better. In fact, you could say it even made it feel worse since he was causing his best friend so much worry.

"I'm sorry Sun-Il, my attack wasn't aimed well enough and I had to rely on you again"

"...Don't sweat it" Sun-Il had mustered the strength to stand on his two feet again and patted his friend's shoulder. "Who else will watch your geeky back if I don't?"

"...Screw you"

It was a touching scene as the two of them briefly shared a chuckle, not really sure what they were laughing it, before Sae-Young and Shi-Yun also arrived, having followed Jee-Han.

"Nice work out there Sun-Il, you really came through for us!"

"I have to say I am impressed as well, Shin Sun-Il. Your mastery over your own ki is remarkable"

Sae-Young gave her cousin a thumbs up while Shi-Yun inclined her head towards him respectfully. Not that comfortable being showered in praise, Sun-Il slightly blushed but tried to play it off as he raised his hand towards them as if it was no big deal.

"It was nothing"

"Hah! You say that but you're covered in sweat as if you ran a marathon!"

"..."

Jee-Han grinned at being able to successfully tease Sun-Il who huffed in annoyance. Usually being on the receiving end of teasing, it was a fun experience for Jee-Han as he elbowed his friend in the stomach

"By the way, how many levels did you gain?" Jee-Han inquired.

Sun-Il blinked for a second before directing his eyes to the several notifications floating in front of him. "Huh, I didn't even notice these things" He then smirked as he looked back at Jee-Han. "I gained three levels"

Jee-Han nodded, noting how each of them had gained three levels while he gained five, obviously due to the fact that he was lower leveled. That said, Jee-Han felt as if he was forgetting something very important and cocked his head to the side before his eyes widened in realization.

"Ah! The drops! Let's see what we got this time!"

Jee-Han quickly turned around and headed in the direction of what would be the remains of the Troll Zombie.

"Drops? What's he talking about?" Sae-Young turned to Sun-Il who she thought would know the answer while Sun-Il sighed at his cousin's pitiful memory.

"Don't you remember what I told you before? Jee-Han's power lets him receive items when he defeats monsters"

"Ah! That's right, when you came home with those recovery potions! I didn't think you were being serious..."

"Where else could I have gotten them from?"

"...Good point"

Shi-Yun was the only not following the conversation as she tried to butt in.

"What are you guys talking about? Does Jee-Han's power have something to do with this?"

Sun-Il looked at her with a hesitant gaze, wondering if informing one of the branch members of a rival clan of Jee-Han's unique power would be a wise decision. Well, it wasn't as if he could really hide it as the idiot would probably blab about it sooner or later.

"Well, sorta. You'll see what I mean soon enough"

Those vague words left Shi-Yun unsatisfied but she decided she'd find out about it herself as she followed the two of them to where Jee-Han had run off too.

Arriving at the scene, Jee-Han looked around until he spotted several items on the ground and grinned in delight at his spoils of war. He expected something proportional to the level of difficulty regarding the boss monster but this...

"Oi, Jee-Han! What'd you get this time?"

Sun-Il's voice was filed with innocent curiosity at seeing what items dropped from the monster since the last time him and Jee-Han had gone hunting, he received a couple《Low Grade- Health Recovery Potions》as a gift. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't dying to know what type of items the Troll Zombie could produce.

"Hahahaha! We've got quite a haul this time!"

Sun-Il traded an odd look between himself and Shi-Yun at their friend's sudden behavior before arriving just where Jee-Han was. As they looked over his shoulder while he was bent down laughing in a odd manner, their eyes widened greatly and their mouths were hanging wide open at the items that were now lying on the ground.

There were thirteen bottles in total that contained either red or blue liquid, a large purple stone that was the size of a baseball, two books, and several stacks of cold hard cash now present for all those gathered to see.

"Woah…!"

"S-Seriously…!?"

"…Incredible..."

Several mixed reactions were traded between the three of them while Jee-Han continued to laugh manically, thanking Gaia for the obviously hax ability she had granted him.

"Alright, let's see what we got here"

Jee-Han already knew immediately that the ten bottles of red liquid were 《Low Grade – Health Recovery Potions》 so he turned his attention to the blue liquid he had never seen before.

"Observe"

 **《** **Medium Grade – Mana Potion** **》**

 **Rank: Medium**

 **A well crafted mana potion that can be used to restore 600 MP to the user. It tastes like blueberries.**

Jee-Han immediately raised both of his arms into the air and shouted to the heavens. "Finallyyyyyy!"

"Dude, are you okay?"

Jee-Han turned to Sun-Il with the widest grin he had ever shown on his face, creeping the latter out.

"Do you know what these are!? These are mana recovery potions! This'll help me maintain my mana longer so I can cast more spells!"

"Mana recovery? I've only heard rumors of famous Alchemists crafting them but to think you could even obtain those…"

"Are those things really such a big deal?"

Sun-Il inclined his head towards his cousin at such an obvious question.

"Of course they are, anything related to Alchemy that involves recovery potions will sell for millions of won on the market. Come on Sae-Young, you should know this already..."

The girl in turn stuck her tongue out at Sun-Il "Must have forgot. Anyway, nice going Jee-Han!"

Jee-Han was slightly flustered at the praise before his attention had drifted over towards Shi-Yun who, if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, was frowning heavily.

"Is something wrong?"

"….You're power… just what kind of ability do you have? Creating such items from an Illusion Barrier… that shouldn't be possible…"

Her worries were justified as Jee-Han himself couldn't actually believe it himself until recently. Collecting loot from defeated monsters was a staple in almost every game he played but this wasn't a game, it was a real life. To anyone who had lived in the Abyss for as long as she had, what she was witnessing must have been a truly bizarre phenomenon.

"He has game related powers so this stuff is considered normal, for him at least"

Sun-Il answered on Jee-Han's behalf as the hardened gaze coming from the suspicious Shi-Yun was directed at him now.

" _Nice save!"_

Jee-Han gave a thumbs up to Sun-Il who in turn gave him one back.

"Games?"

She cocked her head innocently as she had never played a game of this sort in her life so it was a mystery that she couldn't solve.

"Oh? So the famous Yunhonmoon Prodigy has never played a game before? That's kind of sad…"

"…Excuse me?"

A vein appeared on Shi-Yun's forehead as her ferocious eyes now glared at the laid back Sun-Il who shrugged his shoulders in a round a bout way. Jee-Han had noticed it before but the two of them always seemed to be at each other's throats all the time, mainly because of Sun-Il and how he was.

"Anyway!" Jee-Han started as he picked up several bottles of the 《Low Grade – Health Recovery Potion》 and gave both Sun-Il and Sae-Young their portion of the loot. "You all helped me out today so in order to show my appreciation, you each get two of these. I'll keep the rest, how does that sound?"

Sun-Il had no problems with that arrangement as he nodded in accordance. "Sounds good, thanks"

Sae-Young was especially ecstatic as she playfully punched his arm, the term "playfully" only being apparent in her own mind as Jee-Han winced heavily. "You rock Jee-Han!"

Ignoring the increase in『 **Physical Endurance** 』he received, he gave a forced smile. "Y-Yea no problem…"

Turning to the last member of his party, Jee-Han quickly recalled the promise he had gave Shi-Yun in regards to fixing her banged up clan mates and heavily frowned. He wanted to rewards Shi-Yun for her efforts in today's battle by giving her a few potions but that would devalue his own services of curing her clan mates if he just gave them the potions so he was a bit conflicted on what to do.

Thankfully, Shi-Yun seemed to pick up on Jee-Han's distressed thoughts and raised her hand. "You do not need to consider gifting anything to me. My assistance in helping you today was apart of our clan's compensation for recieving your methods of treatment for our injured"

Jee-Han sighed in relief and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that, I promise next time if we do get something good, I'll make sure you get first dibs"

Shi-Yun was rather surprised by Jee-Han's insistence of fair treatment and silently nodded, pondering over how Jee-Han had mentioned another future collaboration.

"Now then…"

Jee-Han got back to business as he looked at his other spoils of war, picking up the wad of cash that looked like a heavy sum. Jee-Han wiped away the drool that was now coming from his mouth as he opened his inventory and deposited it. In one fell swoop, his funds had increased from 503,000 won to 1,703,000 won, indicating that the stack of cash contained was about 1,200,000 won.

"W-Woah, are you alright?"

Sun-Il almost missed catching the body of his best friend who just somehow fainted for some reason.

"…So… So much money… I can't…"

"Breathe man, breathe…"

The girls, who were watching the worried Sun-Il tend to the collapsed Jee-Han, raised their brows in utter confusion. The more they got involved with Jee-Han and his antics, the more they began to question his level of sanity.

After Jee-Han had regained his composure, that term being used very loosely, he stored the remaining potions he hadn't touched yet into his inventory and now turned his sights to the the next item that was dropped. Jee-Han picked up a somewhat large purple crystal that was laying on the ground and did what he does best; observed it.

 **《Highest Grade - Soul Stone** **》**

 **Rank: Highest**

 **A crystal dropped by the Troll Zombie that contains hundreds of undead souls that are condensed into a fragment.**

 **Can be used for crafting and alchemy.**

Jee-Han whistled in admiration as he held the priceless gem in his hand while Sun-Il and the others were marveling at its beauty. How could the souls of such ugly creatures produce such a radiating gem like this?

"I have a bunch of soul stones but none of them are like this... I can feel that its different"

Sun-Il nodded. "That thing must be worth hundreds of millions of won; can you imagine how many people would try to get their hands on something like that?"

The amount of money Sun-Il had mentioned was a delicious treat that Jee-Han couldn't help but fantasize about but he held those thoughts for later as he deposited the gem into his inventory. With how little he understood about how things worked in the Abyss or what kind of gem he was holding, selling it off would be a pretty stupid decision.

The last two items that were left on the ground were two skill books that, under Jee-Han's『 **Observe** 』skill, were identified as both『 **Vine Control** 』, a skill that allowed him to sprout vines from his arms and control them, and『 **Replication** 』, a self explanatory technique. Ignoring the『 **Vine Control** 』skill, Jee-Han was extremely curious to see what『 **Replication** 』could do but judged it smart not to learn them now when he was still in Sung-Gon's Illusion Barrier.

Speaking of Sung-Gong…

"Where'd that guy go…?"

Jee-Han looked around the desolate and ruined city but couldn't find a single trace of him. His eyes turned to the elder and the Yunhonmoon members who were in-between the real world and the Illusion Barrier and cocked his head.

"Shouldn't the Illusion Barrier created by Sung-Gong have been destroyed since he's not here?"

"Normally, that would be the case but this Illusion Barrier is clearly of a different variety…"

"You mean there are Illusion Barriers that can still function without the person who created them still being present?"

Sun-Il nodded. "We have something similar at the dojo, even if one of us isn't in there, it still functions properly"

"Wow…"

Jee-Han saved that useful piece of information and wondered if he could also create something similar if he raised his『 **ID - Create** 』skill high enough. It was a thought for later.

"In any case, don't you think we should get out of here? This place isn't exactly the best hang out spot" Sae-Young threw both of her hands behind her back and lightly kicked a piece of rubble in front of her. "Plus, I'm bored"

"I agree, we should return to our respective clans" Shi-Yun added.

Sun-Il nodded with Shi-Yun and turned to Jee-Han.

"Shall we go?"

Seeing no reason not to, Jee-Han also nodded and the four of them left the Illusion Barrier, with Shi-Yun just about to head over back towards her clan before Jee-Han called her over.

Shi-Yun was puzzled on what he would want at this point. "What is it?"

"Uhm, if it's possible, could you keep what you saw regarding my powers a secret? I know your with the Yunhonmoon clan and all but I really don't want anyone finding about the secrets of my ability"

Shi-Yun blankly stared at Jee-Han for a few minutes, observing his pleading expression as she sighed and bowed her head. "As long as you heal my clan mates, what I saw in there will never leave these lips. This, I swear"

Jee-Han was beyond relieved when he heard that and smiled gratefully. "Of course! Thanks alot, I'll catch you later" With that, he sped off back to where Sun-Il and the Chunbumoon were as Shi-Yun stared at him a bit longer than she intended too before heading back to her own clan.

As they crossed the border between reality and the Illusion Barrier, the remnants of Sung-Gong's Illusion Barrier then shattered into dust and the landscape once again returned to normal.

"I'm back, geezer"

"…I can see that, geek"

" _He's always got a comeback…_ "

Jee-Han would have loved to snark some more at the old geezer but he actually felt relieved at seeing him again, even though they had separated not even half an hour ago. Seeing his face again after nearly getting killed in a battle was oddly soothing to him, no matter how much the old relic annoyed him.

"Did you take care of your business?" It was obvious to what Sun-Oh was referring to as Jee-Han nodded.

"It was taken care of, Shi-Yun's not the type of girl to go back on her promises"

Sun-Oh grunted as his suspicious eyes wandered over towards the Yunhonmoon group, sighing as he shrugged his shoulders. "...I suppose that's fine then"

The Chunbumoon elder then turned his sights on his grandson and his niece.

"The two of you require more training, the blunders you've made today were embarrassing"

"…Yes, grandfather"

"Chet, damn geezer always got something to grip about"

While Sun-Il took his punishment honorably and without complaint, Sae-Young was another matter as she slightly pouted and looked the other way. Jee-Han was exempt from the lecture since he technically wasn't apart of their clan and he grinned maliciously at seeing his friends punished. Served them right for all their teasing.

"Oi, geek. Sung-Gong asked me to tell you that he'll speak with you about your compensation later"

"Sung-Gong? You mean he was here?"

"Yea, after that monster was destroyed he came over here and gave an apology before taking off. To be honest, I had no idea what he was talking about but I assume you arranged some sort of agreement with him?"

Jee-Han nodded. "It's a long story but we're on good terms. I just hope I can find out why he needed to make Illusion Barriers and collect those souls for"

Sun-Oh flinched, if ever so slightly when Jee-Han mentioned Sung-Gong's reasoning for creating Illusion Barriers as he recalled the man's words to him not too long ago.

" _I'm just a father trying to give his daughter the best life she can get_ "

Back then, Sun-Oh had no idea what those words has meant as he couldn't remember Sung-Gong ever having a daughter in the first place and even so, why she would be connected to his soul searching? Now, after seeing him in such a state, clearly restricted of using his full powers, the dots began to fill in the elder's head and he believed that all would become clear the next time he met the Black Summoner.

"Grandfather?"

Sun-Oh blinked several times, wrinkles now present as the voice of his grandson distracted him from his thoughts. He shook his head and turned around, prepared to leave the area and head back home.

"We should return, the incident has been resolved so we have no business here any longer"

"If you say so"

Before they could leave however…

"Wait!"

The group swiftly turned around to see Shi-Yun, standing in front of her clan mates with a serious expression on her face as her amber eyes were now looking directly at Jee-Han.

"What's wrong?"

"…Han Jee-Han, do not forget the promise you made to us earlier"

Jee-Han lightly grinned. "Of course, I'll keep my word and heal all those in your clan who were injured by Sung-Gong. I'm still in training however so it'll take a day or two before I can do it, is that alright?"

Shi-Yun looked back towards her grandfather, Shi-Sen who merely nodded in acceptance at the terms.

"That will be acceptable. I will be awaiting your assistance when the time comes"

Shi-Yun bowed once more before she returned to her clan, her head tilting to the side in confusion when her grandmother had brought up how "close" she was with Jee-Han. Ignoring her, Shi-Yun looked at her grandfather who traded one last look between the Chunbumoon's head and to her complete surprise, a small blink once if you miss it smirk was now plastered on his face.

"We're leaving"

"Yes!"

At Shi-Sen's command, the group of gathered Yunhonmoon members had taken off through the air with the expected unison and coordination of a well famous martial arts clan.

"Now that the pests are gone, let's go home"

"Sure"

Jee-Han could have sworn that Sun-Oh was in a good mood and didn't know why so he cast it aside for now and made his trip back home.

* * *

 **[Present Time]**

Reminiscing after that roller coaster of a trip, Jee-Han was beginning to feel a bit anxious as his body still remembered going toe to toe with such a powerful monster that even Sung-Gong struggled to defeat. He knew he had gotten much stronger but he wasn't stupid, the fight was only won thanks to a team effort and without them, there was no hope of defeating such a monstrosity.

"Still, I can't always rely on them to help me out. What if I end up in an Illusion Barrier by myself with no one to help me?"

The answer was obvious; certain death.

Creatures such as the Troll Zombie were far beyond his capabilities of soloing at the moment. In order to reach the same level as his friends who were all experienced in the field of combat, he was going to have to exploit his gaming powers to the absolute fullest! Having said that, he needed to plan out what his next move was and to get started…

"Status Window"

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Plague to Zombies》  
 **Level** : 21

 **HP** : 1160/1160  
 **MP** : 1530/1530  
 **SP** : 350/350

 **STR:** 26 **  
** **VIT:** 32 **  
** **DEX:** 24 **  
** **INT:** 60 **  
** **WIS:** 18 **  
** **LUK:** 11

 **Available Points** : 35  
 **Money:** ₩1,703,000

In today's battle alone, Jee-Han had leveled up five times, a substantial amount if he did say so himself. The amount of experience he gained by himself was about ¼ of the zombie's total due to the fact that it was split between the other three members of his team. Since at this point, it looked almost impossible to use [ **Equal Distribution** ] with his party members due to their levels being at least double his, Jee-Han was contemplating whether he should start grinding levels on his own.

" _If we keep partying up, we'll all gain levels and it'll be impossible to close the gap. Damn, what should I do?"_

He lifted himself from his bed, opening his Inventory in the process and bringing out the two skill books he stored inside. As he held the two of them in his hand, the decision of which to learn first and how to use them were weighing on his mind.

"『 **Vine Control** 』seems obvious after watching the Troll Zombie use it but『 **Replication** 』looks tricky… aw, what the hell? Let's go for broke!"

He placed the book containing『 **Vine Control** 』down on the bed and held the『 **Replication** 』book in his hand, the notification promptly appearing.

 **DING!**

 **You've obtained the skill book** 『 **Replication** 』!

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

Obviously, he clicked (Yes) to confirm the skill but instead, he was met with this predicament.

 **You cannot learn this skill.**

 **Required WIS: 50**

Well damn.

"I haven't seen this message in awhile" Jee-Han briefly recalled how he was unable to learn the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』technique until he met the requirements. Every other skill had been easy to learn so it was a bit annoying that this came up now. Still, he was already cheating months of training by learning skills this easily so he wasn't in much of a position to whine about this detour.

"Let's see, fifty wisdom huh? Sun-Il did mention that wisdom would help my decision making and it did increase magic resistance. Oh right, I should also get a passive from increasing a stat over fifty like with intelligence!" He crossed his arms and nodded vigorously, agreeing with himself. "Alright let's do it!"

With his mind made up, Jee-Han opened his [ **Status Window** ] and looked over his attributes. Ignoring the buffs and passives that strengthened his stats, Jee-Han's WIS was currently residing at fifteen and would require all thirty five of his unused stat points to reach his end goal. Though he did feel slightly hesitant to part with them, he figured it would be a wise investment, no pun intended, and decided to believe Sun-Il's advice on raising his Wisdom would be worth it.

He pushed the arrow buttons and spent the points accordingly, a ting sound being made each time he poked the window. When the number had finally reached fifty...

 **«DING!»**

 **The skill** 『 **Mana's Charm** 』 **has been created through WIS rising above 50!**

 **《Mana's Charm - Passive》**

 **A technique granted to those exceptionally blessed in using mana wisely.**

 **《15 % increase in Magic Resistance》**

 **《10 % increase in MP Recovery Rate》**

 **《5 % decrease in MP Activation Cost》**

 **《Total MP Increased by 500》**

Incredible.

Jee-Han knew immediately that choosing to place points into wisdom was a brilliant idea as he observed the amazing effects of the『 **Mana's Charm** 』passive skill. More than that however, ideas such as maximizing the『 **Chunbu Spirit Technique** 』which passively increased every stat popped into his head. He hadn't even _thought_ about the skill and its immense bonuses prior to raising his wisdom and he knew that his brain was beginning to grow much wiser thanks to it.

He looked at his palms and gripped them tightly.

"How stupid have I been all this time...?"

It was an honest question, with so many bonuses that he had acquired but neglected to raise in favor of more flashy skills, how many opportunities had he missed to make himself stronger?

He sighed and ruffled his brown hair before looking at the book still in his hand, waiting for his confirmation.

"No point in regretting the past, let's make up for lost time"

He confirmed the『 **Replication** 』skill book, letting the sea of knowledge flow into his head as the book evaporated into the air.

『 **Replication (Active) | Lvl 1 EXP: 0.00 % | MP: 500** 』

 **A sought after skill that allowed rare magical creatures to split themselves into separate entities. One of the signature techniques of the Troll Zombie.**

 **Clones retain half of the user's attributes and can be commanded through verbal command or telepathy.**

 **Number of clones that can be created: 1**

 **100 Additional MP used per minute**

"...Even though I knew what it was... it's still amazing what kind of skill just ended up in my possession"

Though it sounded weird, Jee-Han wanted to kiss the Troll Zombie right now for the skill he had just given him. His gamer powers would allow him to make skills based on certain actions but how could he have begun to make a skill for replication? How would a person even do that?

"Let's learn the other one before I try them out"

He picked up the『 **Vine Control** 』book, which of course prompted the notification of whether to learn it or not. Clicking (Yes), the book vanished just like earlier and Jee-Han's repertoire of skills had just gone up by one.

『 **Vine Control (Active) | Lvl 1 EXP: 0.00 % | MP: 120** 』

 **A signature technique used by the Troll Zombie. The power to control vines stems from the user's own willpower. The total length the vines can stretch and durability depend on the user's INT and WIS.**

 **New Status, "Nature Element Affinity" has been created.**

 **You have gained 10 points towards the Nature Element for learning a Nature based skill.**

"What's this now?"

Jee-Han was puzzled at the unexpected new message he had never come across before. The term "affinity" was an easy enough word to understand as it reflected how favored a person was towards a certain subject.『 **Mana Affinity** 』for example, made Jee-Han naturally accustom towards using his mana which resulted in the several techniques he had created that turned into useful skills.

However, gaining an "Element Affinity" was a topic he hadn't touched yet. Did this mean that he was now geared towards using Nature based techniques? If that was the case, then any skill book he learned from now on that had an element attached to it would probably result in another affinity gain. He had just made quite the discovery!

" _I'll have to pick up some other elemental techniques to test that theory_ "

It was an idea for another time as Jee-Han's current focus was now testing his two newly learned skills.

He looked around his room for a suitable target, his eyes eventually meeting with the door handle. He smirked before he grabbed his free arm with his other arm and stretched it towards the door.

"First up, Vine Control!"

Not a moment later, a lime green vine emerged from the center of Jee-Han's palm as it rocketed towards the door handle. Jee-Han winced, slightly unable to control the level of power that the vine had as he missed the door handle and the vine pierced right through the wooden door.

"...Crap, I couldn't control it"

His mother was going to be pissed about that when she came home tonight.

"Still, this is too freaking cool. Let's see if I can retract"

Using his mind, the vine followed his command and retracted back into his palm with a _zupi_ sound and Jee-Han shook the hand he just used, still not comfortable with the feeling of a vine suddenly popping out of it.

"It'll take some time to control before I can use it in a fight. I'll have to test how strong it is and if it's able to restrict the monster I encounter. Heh, look at me I never would have thought about that before"

He really had to thank Sun-Il for advising him to raise his wisdom; it was a well placed investment.

"That's one down; let's go for the second one..."

Jee-Han made sure to close his blinds so no one would end up seeing two of the same people and closed the door that now had a wide hole in the center. He stood in the center of his room and laid both of his arms by his side and let his body relax.

"Replication!"

Though his eyes were closed, Jee-Han could feel his senses beginning to tear themselves in half as from his body, a head similar to his own emerged from his torso and stepped out. It literally felt as if somebody was trying to force their way out of his body and he would have puked right there and then but steeled himself for the worst. He was a man and he needed to act like one!

A few seconds later, the putrid feeling had subsided and the trembling in Jee-Han's body began to pass, his eyes opening slowly and came face to face with a mirror image of himself, staring at him with a blank expression.

"Holy shit, it worked!"

It was impossible for Jee-Han to contain the rush of excitement at seeing the skill actually work and he examined the clone all over, noting that it had every detail of Jee-Han's body down to a perfect degree. Of course, it could never match his own handsomeness, according to his own logic.

He stepped back from the clone, raising his arm slowly to see if it would follow. It didn't, which made Jee-Han try something else.

"Jump"

It jumped in place.

"Sit"

It sat down on the floor.

"Stand"

It stood right back up.

"Punch"

 _Whack!_

Jee-Han held his throbbing cheek as he glared at the blank faced clone that had its arm stretched out. Jee-Han would have knocked its teeth out but realized he had ordered the command so he could only blame himself.

He then circled around the dummy clone, which he dubbed it himself, and began plotting how to use it in the middle of a battle. Could it be used as a distraction while he gathered enough time to use his powerful spells? He had his doubts, especially regarding how durable it would be. Thinking along those lines, the most obvious idea popped into his head.

"Observe"

 **Race:** Human Replica  
 **Sex:** Male  
 **Element Affinity:** Nature  
 **Level:** 21

 **STR:** 14  
 **DEX:** 11  
 **VIT:** 14  
 **INT:** 30  
 **WIS:** 30  
 **LUK:** 6

 **Special Abilities:** Complete Nature Resistance

"... They really do take half of my stats"

Everything down from physical strength to lady luck; the clones truly did embody the word "half". Jee-Han's interest fell upon the special properties that were listed, humming in amazement.

"Its element affinity is nature... is that because I just gained that from the skillbook?"

Even more questions popped into Jee-Han's head on the discovery of a new type of system he had yet to explore. If he learned more affinities, would that mean he could create clones of different elemental properties?

"Let's try something; use Vine Control"

At that command, the dummy clone raised its hand and from it, the same lime green vine from earlier sprouted from its palm. The vine wrapped itself around the dummy clone and its facial expression didn't change for an instant, clearly not phased in the slightest.

" _This thing's got balls of steel..."_

Jee-Han quickly checked his MP bar to see just how much mana had been used and saw that he still had over half of his mana left over, even after activating both『 **Vine Control** 』and『 **Replication** 』. Though he was definitely happy that he could use at least this much while still retaining a large chunk of his mana, he needed to know just how much mana could he regain per minute.

He clicked the MP icon and saw that at the moment, he could regain 150 MP per minute which was an astronomical boost from a week ago where he could only regain 1 MP per minute. Still, he needed much more if he was going to sustain using his clones along with his skills during battle.

" _Wait! If I can level up my skills, then their MP cost should come down right?"_

Following this potentially brilliant idea, Jee-Han opened his skill window and clicked on both『 **Vine Control** 』and『 **Replication** 』.

"Both of them are now at level 2 since I just used them... wait, why does『 **Vine Control** 』require less experience to get to level 3 when I've only used it once...?"

A short silence followed the room before Jee-Han's eyes immediately darted towards the dummy clone who returned his frantic look with a bored expression.

Could it be!?

"Use Vine Control"

The clone followed its given command and the vines appeared from its palm once again, laying on the ground this time instead of wrapping around its own body. Jee-Han's eyes now focused back on the『 **Vine Control** 』skill and saw that the EXP required to level it had decreased.

" _Sweet mother of jesus, I'm a genius!"_

 **By making a valuable discovery, your WIS has increased by 1!**

" _I knew it, wisdom rocks! I should have increased it sooner!"_

Jee-Han seriously wondered how he could have forsaken such an advantage from the beginning.

Focusing back on his discovery, by using『 **Replication** 』, he could have his clones actively grind skills! If that was true, then that could mean that any action that the clone did could also affect the original's stats and if that was really true...

A maniacal laugh erupted from Jee-Han's room as the man in question couldn't believe that he had just discovered _another_ broken aspect of his ability. Sun-Il was going to be _thriving_ in jealousy!

Jee-Han had a lot of work in front of him but by tomorrow, he was going to have some fun testing some new cheats.

* * *

 **A/N: So ladies and gentleman how was that comeback chapter? Are you excited? Jee-Han may have just discovered another OP ability that could help save his life in the future.**

 **We were also introduced to one of the major antagonists of this arc; his name will be revealed very soon. Jackal's pretty creepy too huh? Their certainly not someone I'd ever want to know.**

 **I've also come to realize that promising a release date on chapters was very foolish me so I apologize for that. From now on, I'll just release at a pace I'm comfortable with and you'll all have to just be patient.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Plague to Zombies》 **  
** **Level:** 21

 **Element Affinity:**  
• **Nature** \- 10

 **HP:** 1160/1160 **  
** **MP:** 2030/2030  
 **SP:** 350/350  
 **  
** **STR:** 26 **  
** **VIT:** 32 **  
** **DEX:** 24 **  
** **INT:** 60 **  
** **WIS:** 61 (↑43 UP) **  
** **LUK:** 11

 **Points:** 0 **  
** **Money:** ₩1,703,001

* * *

« **Skills** »

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 3  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active): Level 1 **  
**• Vine Control (Active) | Lv: 2 **«NEW»  
**

 **Defensive:**  
• Mana Shield (Active): Level 2

 **Support:  
** • Observe (Active) | Lv: 8 **«↑1 UP»**  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 5  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 2  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 5  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive) | Lvl: 5  
• Spirit Channel (Active) | Lvl: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) | Lvl: MAX **  
**• Replication (Active) | Lv: 1 **«NEW»** **  
**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 4  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 1  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 2

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active) | Lvl: 2  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lvl: 1


	13. (Arc 2) Chapter 13

**A/N: A second return chapter that really begins to show the divergence of my story from the original. Nothing else much to say except I hope you all enjoy the chapter and will continue to support my story. All reviews are appreciated!**

 **ATTENTION!**

 **Just a quick reminder that at the bottom of the page I've changed the structure of the Update Progress and that each skill level will be shown being raised off screen since it would be a huge pain having to keep mentioning Jee-Han's skill progress each time within the chapter. This way, if you aren't sure what level Jee-Han's skills are at, just go to the bottom to see what skills have been newly acquired and which skills have leveled up.**

 **Check out my DeviantART page by googling "TheBlackDuelist" and you'll find some avatars I made of the Paradise group.**

 **That said, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 13**

It was raining.

With every drip that landed on the surface of the ground, the splashy sound of water echoed throughout the dark streets. The wind carried the distinct scent of water and sprayed it around the town. Because of how frequent it rained in this area, those living in this town had gotten accustom towards it; you could even say that the town had now given off the fragrance of being submerged underwater.

A boy, no older than a mere child at the age of ten or so, was seen standing on the tallest building the town had to offer. His eyes were expressionless and his clothes were in tatters, stained with dirt, blood, and saliva. His once beautiful brown hair that could turn the heads of any man or woman was now ruffled beyond recognition, with numerous strands having been pulled out.

Calling him a wreck would be an understatement.

Yet, despite his utterly repulsive appearance; he was completely void of any emotion.

There was no sense of shame of what he was wearing, no sense of embarrassment at being seen in public like that; he didn't even feel angry or jealous.

There was just nothing.

It was as if the essence of life itself was sucked from the boy and all that was left was just a mindless puppet.

As rain drops continued to poor onto his small and fragile body, each drop making a _drip_ sound as it was dissolved into the child's skin; he jumped.

It wasn't a jump made with any sort of effort, he just fell forward from the top of the tower and let his body carry him down.

From the height he was jumping at, it would be obvious what fate awaited the boy. With such a weak physique, his bones would be crushed instantly and his remains would splatter across the empty streets.

However, the boy showed no fear on his face even as he was falling at an extremely fast speed. His impending doom was certain and yet, he wasn't afraid in the slightest. Just what kind of life had this boy gone through for a mere child to face death with such a face?

" _I shouldn't have been born, so all I have to do to correct it is by dying_ "

Those were the last thoughts that would ever come to this boy's mind as the ground came closer and closer and just as his face was about to smash into the floor...

* * *

"…!?"

A young man violently awoke from his slumber as he reached his hand out in front of him and inclined his body upright. A few drips of sweat fell from his forehead and he was slightly panting as if he had awoken from a bad nightmare. He blinked a few times in disbelief, wondering if he was in his right mind before he checked his surroundings and a tiresome sigh escaped his mouth as he ruffled his brown hair.

"Che, that damn dream again… "

Lately, he had been having the same dream over and over again each night and with every passing day, the details of what happened that day appeared to get clearer. At first it was just blurry images and it was hard to identify anything but eventually, it had gotten to the point where he could recall almost everything and was reliving that day all over again.

"Why has it gotten worse? I thought it would just go away eventually… I'll have to speak to the doctor again on this matter"

x.x.x.x.x

After he had finished with his morning routine of taking a shower and eating his well groomed breakfast prepared by the maids, the young man left the dining hall and headed towards the main hall where a maid was waiting for him while bowing. She had light blue hair and was noticeably taller than most of the other maids employed, which gave her a unique charm of her own. The most noticeable thing about her however wasn't her height but rather, the glasses that she wore on her face. While some may have believed that glasses made certain individuals less attractive, that statement could not be applied towards her as her beauty was undeniable.

"Young master, your guests are awaiting your presence in the meeting room"

"...Really? They're much earlier than I expected. When did they arrive?

"Approximately ten minutes ago"

"... I see"

The man briskly walked past the maid and grabbed her shoulder, causing said maid to flinch instinctively.

"Good work, Hilma. I'll speak with them now so I want you to attend to your other duties"

"O-Of course!"

Rather confused at such an elated response, especially after the maid looked intimidated by him, the man merely shrugged and continued on towards designated room, completely unaware of the look of admiration and obsession on the maid's face.

The man walked up the stairs and after having reached the large doors, ghi he opened it and stepped inside.

"Ara, it seems the boss has finally made his appearance"

"Morning Boss-chin! What's the assignment this time, is it fun!?

"How long were you planning on keeping us waiting?"

"…."

Entering the room with a neutral expression, the young man was now faced with his fellow colleagues who shared mixed comments about his arrival. He could already feel himself getting a headache as he walked over to his desk and sat down, leaning back in his comfortable rolling chair and resting his face on the hand now placed upon the table.

"You guys are still as abrasive as always. I'm surprised though, I wasn't expecting you to arrive this early"

"How could we not? We got your message yesterday that you'd found a potential good catch so we rushed over quickly"

The boss's eyes turned over towards the young man who had voiced that comment; his name was Aaron Leonhart and he was currently the youngest member of Paradise. Wearing a white shirt underneath a violet jacket and black pants, he was currently sitting crossed armed with a serious expression on his rather soft looking face that many would identify as attractive. His mysterious violet eyes, that matched with his jacket, held the ferocity of a crouching wolf were highlighted by his short black hair. Contrary to his appearance as a teenager however, he was far more mature and level headed than his looks led one to believe and his only concerns were finishing assignments swiftly and efficiently.

Having said that...

"You've got a mission for us right? Let's hear it already, we don't got all day" Aaron scowled as a nasty frown was plastered on his face.

" _He's still as unsociable as ever…_ " The boss had noted.

"Don't get so tense Aaron, the boss will get too it eventually. Girls don't like guys who are too stiff, y'know?"

"Yea! Aaron-chin's always gotta be so serious in the morning, loosen up! It's not cute at all!"

Aaron snorted in disgust.

"Shut up. Who gives a crap about something as dumb as being popular with girls? Its more trouble than it's worth!"

As Aaron huffed in an annoyed manner from his colleagues, the two girls who had been teasing Aaron both shrugged at his attitude. The boss on the other hand now turned his sights on his female associates.

Sitting on the couch as she was pouting and flailing her legs up and down was a young teenage girl, looking to be in the prime of her youth with vibrant sapphire hair that was tied into a small ponytail. She was wearing a zipped up dark blue track jacket alongside tight black shorts that showed off her rather long and toned legs, a testament to her years of being an athlete. Her identity was Anastasia, another member of Paradise and its second youngest member right above Aaron. Aside from the boss and another certain member, Anastasia was without a doubt Paradise's most skilled combatant in hand to hand combat and her abilities made her the perfect candidate for the cleaner business.

The boss' eyes then turned to the other female associate sitting near Ana.

With her legs crossed and wearing a low cut top and tight pants that highlighted her slender figure, Jade Casablanca brushed a few loose strands of her gorgeous blonde hair out of her eyes. She was quite the attractive woman, possessing a voluptuous physique with ample breasts that were hugged tightly by her short top. Unsurprisingly, Jade had much experience working in the model business before she turned her talents towards being a cleaner, easily becoming recognized as a dangerous and skilled assassin. Having years of experience under her belt, she was a woman who had mastered the art of seduction to such a degree that if given a few minutes alone with a man, she could get anything from him.

Aaron, Ana, and Jade; they were all the boss' trusted associates and he was confident that their skills would be more than sufficient to succeed in the newest mission, though he still wanted to proceed with caution.

Having said that, there was one thing that was bothering him.

"Where is Mellow?"

There was one member missing from the group, the last piece of【 **Paradise** 】and what the boss described as their "Ace".

"Ah, boss he's-

"I'm right here~"

Almost instantly, a curved dagger was now held close to the boss's throat and behind him, a young man with silver hair was seen smiling behind him. No, to call it a smile would be a wrong choice of words as it would be more accurate to describe it as grin of pure maliciousness. His name was Mellow Asterfold, the ace of【 **Paradise** 】and also the boss' right hand man. His usual outfit consisted of a full black battle suit with open sleeves, showing off a lizard tattoo that was stuck on his toned left bicep. Despite his rather... unusual personality, many would would feel hard pressed not to be attracted to the young man who had rather favorable looks and a slim build.

"I'm a bit disappointed~ Even if it's the morning you shouldn't let your guard down~ What if I was some sort of assassin out to get you, huh?"

Despite holding a knife towards another man's throat, Mellow's voice was light hearted and filled with childlike innocence, as is the subject of killing a person was as harmless as playing with a toy.

"...But you are an assassin… never mind, enough fooling around. I didn't summon you here just for target practice"

"You still didn't answer my question though~ What if-

 _ **Click**_

Mellow's ears immediately picked up on the sound of a gun being cocked and swiftly turned his head around, eyes widening in shock at seeing his boss standing behind him with a gun pointed at his back.

" _When did he…?_ "

When Mellow's eyes faced forward again, the "boss" that had been sitting down in the chair began to evaporate into nothing but a puff of smoke as the real one brought a cigar into his mouth.

"How many times do we have to play this pointless game until you're satisfied?"

As Mellow retracted his dagger back into his pocket, he threw his hands up into the air in defeat and produced a weak smile.

"Ah, I've been caught again. I thought I really had you this time, my bad~"

"…."

Ignoring the obviously fake attempt at being sincere, the boss placed his gun back onto his belt and sat down in the chair.

"Do you _have_ to do that every time you see the boss?" Aaron asked with a frown.

Ana put both of her hands at the back of her head and sighed. "You should just give up Mellow-chin; you'll never catch the boss off guard"

Mellow stuck his tongue out at their comments before moving away from behind the table and stood in front of the boss, awaiting his orders.

"Shall we get back to business?"

An affirmative nod came from all of the members gathered in the room, prompting the boss to snap his fingers. Not a moment later, the ceiling of the room opened and from it, a large projection monitor descended and stopped just above the boss' head.

"Our targets this time will be these individuals"

When he said that, the projection instantly brightened and a list of names alongside photographs were now promptly displayed on the screen. There were five individuals highlighted on the list, ranging from a couple teenagers to two or so adults. at least five different people listed, ranging from the age of teenagers to fully grown adults.

"According to the report I recieved from Jackal, the region where these people live has been exhibiting a boom in ability users"

"…You sure we can trust that freak? You know he's not the most… trustworthy person around"

To answer Aaron's question, the boss merely shrugged.

"As much of a weasel as he is, his information has always been accurate so I believe its safe to trust him. However, that doesn't mean that he's telling us everything we should know so I'd suggest keeping your guard up just in case"

"Hmm…"

Mellow was humming in mild curiosity as his eyes traveled from one target to the other, wondering what kind of method he would use to steal away their freedom. He was beginning to feel a bit anxious at seeing the despair in their faces at what fate awaited them.

"What's the scope of their abilities?" Jade inquired.

"I've read over the data and it seems none of them have abilities passing the 3rd tier"

"Eh?"

After answering her question with such an answer, Jade shot the boss a look of utter disbelief at what he had just said. Even so, Aaron was the first to speak up against it.

"Oi" Aaron began as his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "Did you really summon all of us here to hunt down mere 3rd tier ranked users? Is this some sort of joke?"

Ana didn't really mind the mission as she tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong with that? A mission's a mission, let's do it already!"

"Everything's wrong with that! Think before you speak, stupid girl" Aaron retorted.

"Take that back, Aaron-chin! I'm not stupid!"

The two of them argued in front of the rest of their colleagues as the boss heaved a troubled sigh while Jade tried to get things back on track.

"Boss, may I ask what the true aim of you summoning all of us here is?"

In the face of Jade's suspicious question, the boss slowly removed the cigar in his mouth and breathed out a puff of smoke.

"Your judgment isn't wrong. The true aim of this mission is right here"

He snapped his fingers once more and the projection changed screens instantly, now showing the photograph of a young male student with brown hair and an uninspiring face.

"This is the main target whose ability has been speculated to be at least ranked at the 2nd tier and is very likely to be even greater than that, a 1st tier"

Almost instantly, the atmosphere in the room had suddenly changed and the facial expressions of those inhabiting the room darkened. It was as if a switch had been set off and their childlike personalities were nowhere to be seen, replaced with the burning passion of a hunter that was stalking its prey.

"2nd tier or higher you say? With the chance of it also being a 1st tier? Now that's what I'm talking about!"

For the first time since arriving at the meeting, Aaron was showcasing a cheerful demeanor and the excitement in his eyes was plain to see.

Similarly, Mellow whistled in amazement at hearing of such a catch.

"Having such an ability at his age, can you imagine how much they'll pay for him? Still, I need to ask; how much of that information is accurate?"

"I was skeptical at first but it turns out the brat has connections to both the Chunbumoon and the Yunhonmoon who are designated representatives of Seoul"

"I've heard of those two. Aren't those the twin pair of famous martial arts clans that were said to have branched off from a single group decades ago?"

Being a martial artist herself, Anastasia's knowledge regarding various clan histories was noteworthy and she even made it one of her hobbies to learn about every clan she came across around the world.

"That's probably right; both those clans have existed for decades so what you said wouldn't surprise me. However, the main issue here is that the target has come into contact with both of them and was seen even battling alongside some of their members"

"Battling? Hasn't this boy just awoken his powers?"

The boss nodded at Jade's question.

"According to Jackal, it's been less than a month so he's still inexperienced. Even so, the fact that he was able to defeat a C-class monster is rather unprecedented, don't you agree?"

This had caught everyone's attention as their eyes widened slightly in amazement.

In the Abyss, monsters were classified depending on their difficulty level and danger they posed. Of course, monsters didn't actually exist in the real world as they were only able to take form inside Illusion Barriers, but that didn't mean they were easy to defeat. Monsters classified at the rank of C class would be capable of destroying small cities if left unchecked. For a normal high school student to have defeated one in a mere month after awakening his powers, even if it was a 3rd tier ability…

"…I can see why you called us, boss. This is much more complicated than I thought"

The other nodded in agreement at Aaron's statement as they too could now begin to understand their summoning.

"I'm glad you understand, this mission won't be as easy as we believe. We'll first need to infiltrate Seoul and gather information regarding this boy's powers, at the same time we'll be on the lookout for those on the list and capture them leisurely"

Jade seemed worried about something as she inclined her head. "What about the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon? Wouldn't they notice if we created Illusion Barriers around their area?"

"Yes you're right, which is why we'll proceed with caution. We're not here to fight a full blown war; we're just capturing a bunch of brats. As powerful as they are, even they will have breaches in their security which is where we will slip in"

"Hmm, that seems like a shame. I was dying to know how strong they were, how disappointing~"

Surprisingly, the boss chuckled at Mellow's rather thoughtless comment and a small grin formed on his face, one that the members of【 **Paradise** 】hadn't seen in quite awhile.

"I never said we wouldn't fight them, I just said we shouldn't treat this as a war. We'll deal with them in our own way, you can count on it"

A sinister grin had now taken form on the boss' face while his colleagues shuddered under the malicious intent clearly hidden behind those eyes.

"Boss-chin is scary…" Ana shuddered as the other members nodded their heads in unison.

Noticing the effect he was having on his subordinates, the boss coughed in an awkward manner to clear away their fears.

"I-In any case, I assume none of you have any objection towards this mission?"

"None"

"Nope~"

"Not at all!"

"Piece of cake"

The boss nodded as he stood up from his chair and turned around, watching his beautiful garden being watered by his maids. The fortune that he, Krash Nillux had built up from scratch and those he surrounded himself around were things that he accomplished and he would do anything to sustain this lifestyle.

"Stop thinking about the past, it's behind you now… yet even though I know that, why do I keep having that same dream?"

"Boss?"

Krash blinked slowly and shook his head to rid the negative thoughts clouding his head; there was no use in worrying about the past. With his resolve firm and his objective clear, the cleaner group known as Paradise was ready to mobilize.

"We'll be leaving shortly and will arrive in Seoul by tomorrow, is that understood?"

"Roger!"

It was a unified response.

* * *

At Jee-Han's high school, summer break was vastly approaching as the end of the school year was just a few weeks away. Unfortunately, that also meant that the number of tests had also increased and usually, Jee-Han would have dreaded coming to school at this time since, per usual, he wouldn't have bothered studying and flunked them all.

However, ever since Jee-Han had been revealed to be a natural ability user who could live his life like it was a game, passing tests was the last thing that had been on his mind. Without ever bothering to study for an upcoming test, the results should have been obvious.

Yet, here he was staring at his filled out answer sheet with a look of utter disbelief on his face.

" _I can't believe how easy that was!_ "

The subject was chemistry, which had never been Jee-Han's strong suit under any circumstance. If this had been a week ago, Jee-Han would have definitely looked at all the questions, nodded his head, and proceed to scribble in random gibberish. That's how it usually went.

Now that he had enhanced his intelligence and wisdom to that of five times of an average high school student, chemistry had becoming nothing short of a breeze. Questions that he could only cock his head to the side to answer before were painfully obvious to solve now, it was laughable!

His eyes darted around the classroom where he studied the expressions of his less than enthusiastic classmates and sighed in relief. Good, it wasn't that the test was easy but rather, it was because of his own increased intuition and memory.

" _I really have to thank Sun-Il for advising me to raise my wisdom…_ "

Speaking of Sun-Il, Jee-Han saw that the man was casually playing with his pen with a bored expression on his face. Frowning, Jee-Han quickly took a peek at his answers and saw that they were all filled out as well, though he couldn't see the precise answers.

"This guy… did he just wing it? His intelligence and wisdom should be lower than mine…"

Just to be sure, he whispered『 **Observe** 』on him.

 **Name** : Shin Sun-Il  
 **Class** : Chunbumoon's Heir  
 **Gender** : Male  
 **Race:** Human  
 **Next** **Level** : 13.05 %  
 **Age** : 18  
 **Attribute** : Wind  
 **Title** :《One who Perseveres》  
 **Level** : 33

 **STR** : 65  
 **VIT** : 92  
 **DEX** : 76  
 **INT** : 25  
 **WIS** : 16  
 **LUK** : 26  
 **Status** : None  
 **Background** : A martial artist prodigy that is the grandson of Shin Sun-Oh, leader of the Shin family of the Chunbumoon and the named successor of the clan.  
 **Emotions** : Worry, Affection, Playful, Mischievous

" _Just as I thought, raising my Observation skill shows much more info…_ "

Before he had gone to bed last night and on his way to school, Jee-Han had grinded as many active and passive skills as he could, something he neglected to do so before.『 **Observe** 』in particular had been a skill he had said hundreds of times before class had started and thanks to that, it was now sitting comfortably at level 14.

As Jee-Han continued to note the effects of his increased skill, his eyes wandered over towards the heading labelled « **Attribute** » as it had caught his interest.

"Attribute? Isn't that the same thing as element affinity? It even says his attribute is wind… I'll have to ask him on that later"

Jee-Han was actually more surprised at how quickly not only Sun-Il but also himself had risen in terms of levels thanks to his own powers. Even with all of the years he spent training, Sun-Il still had yet to reach into 30's and yet, in only a few battles against powerful monsters, he had leveled up eight times, which was about one third of his level from just pure training.

"I guess my powers really are cheats... as if I already didn't know that. Hold on a sec, affection? Does this bastard have a girlfriend he's not telling me about?"

A swell of annoyance could be felt coming from Jee-Han as he shot an unfriendly glare at Sun-Il who noticed his friend's watchful gaze and only returned a warm smile towards him. His smile just seemed to brighten up the room as Jee-Han wondered if that was the smile he used when meeting his secret lover.

Figuring that it would be a waste to continue thinking about it, Jee-Han had leaned back in his chair and threw both his arms behind his back. Since he finished the test so early, he was utterly bored and thought of what to do next to improve himself for another upcoming fight. Though he had definitely gotten much stronger and was capable of now soloing low level boss monsters with his increased magical powers, he was still severely lacking in dealing with the normal mobs. Having a party to back him up was nice and all but he couldn't just rely on them all the time, he needed to work on his independent skills starting now.

"Getting that『 **Replication** 』skill was a huge bonus towards becoming stronger, as I can leave the task of grinding my stats and skills to them... sucks that they have to be close to me though..."

Indeed, Jee-Han had attempted to test the amount of distance he could be away from his clones and found that at level 3, the farthest distance was close to only eight or nine meters before the clones would crumble and disappear. While that wasn't terribly bad, if he was planning on using them to train while he focused on other important matters, the distance needed to be upgraded.

Ignoring that for now, Jee-Han's mind now focused back on improving his offensive power as he cupped his chin.

" _I'll definitely need more attacks I can use frequently since all of my best spells right now take far too long to charge. Hmm, what about energy bolt? It's weak but costs low mana… will that work?_ "

When Jee-Han had attempted to first create an Illusion Barrier, the technique『 **Energy Bolt** 』had been accidentally learned through sheer coincidence. The memories of using that skill with his trusty bat Samantha were nostalgic memories for Jee-Han but as stronger enemies began to appear, the practicality of using such weak methods of attack soon faded. Now that his INT and WIS had risen above 50 and his control of mana was more acute and precise, what kind of『 **Energy Bolt** 』could he create now?

The prospect of testing out all of the ideas floating inside his head was making Jee-Han anxious as he stared down the ever so slow clock. Alas, time wouldn't move faster just because he wanted it too and so he was forced to grind some passive skills for the next half an hour.

* * *

 **Ring!**

"That's it, pencils down! Those in the back send your tests forwards and the one's sitting in front of you will collect it"

The students did as they were told and passed their sheets forward, with Jee-Han yawning as he collected the sheets from behind him and passed them forward. Class was finally over and he was preparing his stuff to head home when Sun-Il approached him.

"Yo! How was the test?"

Jee-Han snorted in an arrogant way and stood up.

"It was a breeze. Thanks for telling me to raise my INT and WIS by the way, I didn't think it'd be this easy to get smarter"

"I'm just as surprised as you are; I half expected your stats to only influence your performance in battle. Who knew you'd graduate from being a game idiot that quickly?"

"Don't hate, appreciate my greatness"

Sun-Il rolled his eyes at his friend's cocky statement before he nudged him in the elbow.

"Now don't get too excited, the semester's almost over and you flunked most of the tests. You're going to have to ace the exams if you want to reach the top"

"No worries there, I'm predicting a perfect score on this test and the upcoming exam" Jee-Han then grinned deviously. "You wanna make a bet on it?"

"Who'd be dumb enough to accept that?"

"...I wouldn't mind taking that bet"

Both Jee-Han and Sun-Il turned their heads to see Shi-Yun heading towards them with her bag over her shoulder as she looked ready to head home.

"Oh Shi-Yun, what's up? How was the test for you?"

She shrugged as she brushed a strand of her crimson hair out of her eyes.

"It was trivial at best. I prepared myself for it by studying so I should be within the top scores in the class"

It was a boast of confidence that Jee-Han couldn't help admiring as her blank face never seemed to waver even for an instant.

"That sure is some confidence you've got going there, I'm sure my scores will definitely be higher than yours"

Shi-Yun's eyebrows twitched at Sun-Il's provocation and Jee-Han shook his head at Shi-Yun falling for it again.

"…Are your challenging me, Shin Sun-Il?"

"What if I am?"

Sparks were seen flying between the two of them as Jee-Han pondered just why they were both always at each other's throats. They were able to fight so well together yesterday and now here they were, arguing over something as meaningless as some test scores.

"Okay guys, let's just calm down" Jee-Han placed his hand on both Sun-Il and Shi-Yun's shoulders and gave a sympathetic smile. "Let's just agree that the three of us had the best test scores, okay?"

They both turned their glares towards Jee-Han, which made him flinch slightly and he wondered if it was alright to be touching Shi-Yun this casually but breathed a sigh of relief when they both calmed down and nodded their heads. Jesus, his heart was going to burst at this rate.

"Fine, but I'm sure I still got the top score. You're coming over to the dojo today, right?"

"Definitely"

As if he had forgotten something, Jee-Han's eyes then wandered over to Shi-Yun who looked slightly puzzled at his unexpected gaze. She had a strange feeling he was going to ask her something out of the ordinary.

"Hey, you wanna come too?"

She knew it.

"…I'm afraid I'll have to decline"

A bit bummed she turned him down, Jee-Han frowned and tried to pursue the matter.

"Why?"

"…."

Shi-Yun stayed quiet, unable to answer the boy's questions but she wouldn't need too as Sun-Il stepped in.

"Yunhonmoon members aren't allowed on the compound unless they're given permission from the elders. The only exceptions are during emergencies like what happened yesterday"

"…that sounds really dumb"

Sun-Il couldn't argue there and shrugged. "I didn't make the rules; personally I don't really care as long as they don't cause any trouble"

"Well aren't you pretty high up in the clan? I'm sure they'll make an exception for you"

Sun-Il could see where Jee-Han was going with this as he noticed the twinkle in his eyes. He side glanced over towards the troubled Shi-Yun who seemed a bit distraught at the idea of going to the Chunbumoon so casually.

Truthfully, it wasn't _that_ much of a big deal since the two clans were on friendly terms but Sun-Il was sure some of the elders of the branch families would complain to his grandfather about how leisurely they were allowing a rival clan to walk into their home.

" _They could be such a pain sometimes_ " Sun-Il thought as he scratched his head and relented, giving into his friend's desires as that puppy dog look was beginning to make him quite uncomfortable.

"…Fine, I'll speak to the others about it. Just make sure you stick with us and don't wander off on your own"

Shi-Yun was still reluctant. "… You don't have too…"

"Wooho! That's what I'm talking about, thanks man!"

Shi-Yun was finding it difficult to decline the offer as she watched Jee-Han giggling like a child as he threw his arm around Sun-Il's shoulder. Going over to her rival's compound and training with them would bring all sorts of problems on its own from her higher ups but at the same time, she still owed Jee-Han for his assistance yesterday. Not only that, he had also promised to heal her injured clan mates and so Shi-Yun was conflicted on how to resolve the dilemma.

There was also _another_ specific reason that made it difficult for Shi-Yun to refuse regarding her own clan but just as she was about to speak however, the door to the classroom slid open and a man wearing a black suit walked inside, causing the trio to dart their heads towards him.

"Ah, so the three of you are still here..."

It was none other than the « **Black Summoner** »; Sung-Gong, who adjusted his usual black shades and wore a blank expression.

"It's Sung-Gong…"

Jee-Han wasn't expecting Sung-Gong's rather timely arrival at all, what with the man being absent from class today and how he disappeared last night after they had defeated the Troll Zombie.

"…!?"

Feeling a hidden rage well up from someone nearby, Jee-Han turned his head over towards Sun-Il who was as neutral as ever, seemingly not bothered by Sung-Gong's presence. Knowing that there was only one other person in the classroom, his fell upon Shi-Yun and he flinched when he witnessed the glare she was giving him. He didn't understand, wasn't their beef with each other resolved yesterday? Why was she so angry with him?

Not fazed at all by her glare, Sung-Gong lightheartedly chuckled.

"It's good to see that you haven't loss your burning passion, Yunhonmoon girl. Anyway, I need to speak with you all regarding the Illusion Barrier yesterday and my purpose for collecting as much souls as I have"

" _I knew it, there must have been some reason for it..._ "

Jee-Han's curiosity was beginning to get the better of him as he looked eager to learn what Sung-Gong's motives were while Sun-Il narrowed his eyes suspiciously but was still willing to listen. Even if he didn't trust him completely, he still believed Sung-Gong to be a reasonable man with a justified explanation for his actions.

Shi-Yun however, was in no mood for whatever Sung-Gong was trying to say and briskly walked forward. Jee-Han was quick to react to her absent leave and grabbed her shoulder lightly by reflex but suddenly let go when he saw the anger in her eyes.

"A-Are you alright?"

"…I'm fine. I have business to attend to so I'll be leaving. Please notify me when you are capable of performing the treatment for my clan. Excuse me"

With nothing else left to said, Shi-Yun strode forward and just as she passed Sung-Gong, who didn't bother to turn in her direction as he was fully aware of how she felt towards him, she gave him a subtle but cold glare before walking forward and leaving the school.

"…As expected, she still loathes me. Well, it's not like I can't understand her why"

It wasn't that much of a big deal to him since he didn't really care about how she felt towards him. He'd prefer it if they could speak on friendlier terms but that clearly wasn't going to happen anytime soon so he was just going to have to deal with it.

Though Sun-Il wasn't saying anything, he could at least sympathize with Shi-Yun's dislike of Sung-Gong. It was impressive she was able to restrain herself from attacking him not only right now but also yesterday. If Sung-Gong had attacked the Chunbumoon clan and crippled his family, he would have showed no mercy and gone at him with everything he had, the consequences be damned.

"In any case, I'd like the two of you to accompany me"

He turned around and placed his hand on the door, inclining his head towards the two of them as an indication to follow him.

"Where are we going?"

A fair question.

"You'll understand once we get there. I can only ask for the two of you to trust me"

Jee-Han was more than sure he could trust Sung-Gong after speaking with him yesterday but he still felt a bit uncomfortable as he turned to his best friend.

"What should we do"?"

"…I don't think it would be a bad idea to find out what his goal is but at the same time, we should be cautious. He may not be intending to harm us but you never be too careful when dealing with the Abyss"

"Alright…"

Sung-Gong seemed unbothered by their reluctance to trust him and shrugged as he walked out and was followed by the duo.

* * *

Half an hour had already passed since Jee-Han and Sun-Il had left the school and accompanied the shady chemistry teacher in his expensive black Mercedes, something that made both high school boys drool over with sparkling eyes, and they pulled up in front of the local hospital located not too far away from the school.

Stepping out of the car, they both followed Sung-Gong into the surprisingly quiet and peaceful building and waited for him to check into the front office before being called to follow him to the second floor. Their journey through the halls came to an abrupt hold when Sung-Gong stopped in front of the door at the end of the hall and pulled out an I.D card, swiping it through the handle that allowed both him and the boys to enter the room.

Both Jee-Han and Sun-Il were racking their heads on what exactly their teacher was trying to show them as they walked inside in the room but stopped immediately when their eyes befell a person sleeping on the hospital bed while hooked up to several medical devices that produced a monotone _beep_ sound with every passing second. The patient was a young girl who looked to be around the same as Jee-Han and Sun-Il with sickly pale skin and light brown hair. Her face looked as if it lacked proper nutrition and her hands resembled that of a skeleton's, bony and dry.

"This is…?" Jee-Han began as he glanced over towards Sung-Gong who's facial expression changed from his usual stoic appearance to that of a pained frown.

"…This is my daughter, her name is Hwan Sung-Ah" He stated, slowly walking forward as he sat down on the stool placed next to her bed. He lightly grabbed her rather delicate hands and gripped them with a small smile.

"Wake up, Sung-Ah" His voice surprised both Sun-Il and Jee-Han on how gentle it was.

The girl's body slightly trembled as her eyes slowly flickered open at the sound of someone calling her name. Her head then turned over towards Sung-Gong as the two eyes met and the young girl produced a heartwarming smile.

"…Welcome back, dad" Her voice was weak but at the same time, it was comforting.

The corners of Sung-Gong's mouth curled into a small smile. "How are you feeling today?"

Sung-Ah thought about the question for a minute before she produced the same smile from earlier. "I'm doing fine; you don't have to always worry so much about me"

"… _How can you say that with a straight face?_ " Sung-Gong thought worriedly as he noted the trembling of his daughter's body and how she must have forced herself to smile for his sake.

Sung-Ah then seemed to take notice of the two strangers standing in her bedroom and directed her sights over to Jee-Han. "It seems that you have brought visitors? But I don't recognize them…"

Sung-Gong had almost forgotten about them as he let go of his daughter's hand and stood up, adjusting his black shades. "These are two of my students from school, I thought it might be a good idea for you meet your future classmates early"

A look of surprise washed over both Jee-Han and Sun-Il's faces as they briefly glanced at one another, trying to decode what Sung-Gong was trying to get at.

Sung-Ah understood her father's intent and slowly lifted herself up from lying on the bed, her body needing to be assisted by her doting father who helped rest her against the wall behind her bed as she smiled sweetly towards Jee-Han and Sun-Il.

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you, as you heard from my father already, my name is Hwan Sung-Ah. I'm sorry you have to see me in such a pitiful state, my body isn't in the best condition"

"O-Oh no please don't worry about it, it's nice to meet you as well" Jee-Han quickly blurted, flustered by the girl's modesty that made him quick to feel bad about not introducing himself. "I'm Han Jee-Han, sophomore at Yeogang High"

Sun-Il bowed respectfully towards Sung-Ah and remained calm and composed. "I am Shin Sun-Il, also a sophomore. Pleasure to make your acquaintance"

"Jee-Han.. and Sun-Il…" Sung-Ah repeated quietly, the feeling of meeting people her own age being a new experience for her. Having been sick most of her life, Sung-Ah's social standing with her peers was practically nonexistent as she had never gotten the chance to interact normally with anyone. She felt a bit flustered and gave an innocent smile that took both boys by surprise. "I hope we can be friends…"

"We'd love to be friends with you, right Sun-Il?" Jee-Han proclaimed after nudging Sun-Il with his elbow.

"Huh? Oh yea, that's fine with me…" Sun-Il agreed, though in the back of his mind he felt something was off about the girl in front of him. It was a dark feeling, as if a vortex of negativity was floating around her body and was waiting to devour her soul at any given minute. Just what was this girl's story?

"Now that the introductions are over…" Sung-Gong began as he interrupted the warm atmosphere between the kids. "I believe it's time I told you both the reason for why I have been collecting zombie souls within my Illusion Barriers"

"D-Dad!" Sung-Ah panicked as she heard her father blurt out information regarding the Abyss in front of her seemingly normal classmates.

Sung-Gong shook his head at her daughter's worries, confusing the poor girl. "It's alright Sung-Ah, they are both apart of the Abyss as hard it is to believe"

"..Eh?" Sung-Ah blinked, then turning to the faces of the grinning Jee-Han and neutral Sun-Il. They were both apart of the Abyss? At their age? The mere idea was a huge surprise for Sung-Ah.

"As I was saying" Sung-Gong began as he shifted his eyes towards both Jee-Han and Sun-Il. "I'm sure you're both aware that the undead are a type of creature capable of having their souls extracted in order to be used for many different purposes"

Jee-Han and Sun-Il both nodded. That much was obvious for even Jee-Han as he had collected a substantial amount of « **Soul Stones** » from slaughtering zombies.

"As a result, there is no shortage of fanatics who would pay a hefty price to have these souls for their own twisted agenda's to experiment with in regards to necromancy or even creating doll puppets"

"Wait, there are people who can use Necromancy in the Abyss?" Jee-Han asked with a baffled expression.

Sung-Gong shrugged at Jee-Han's ignorance. "Naturally, the Abyss has thousands of different forms of magic that people have been searching and studying for centuries. Necromancy though is one of the few forms of magic that cannot operate without souls so as you can guess, the ones who use Necromancy are the ones who will do anything to obtain souls of the undead"

"…I thought the Abyss was weird enough, now we've gotta deal with psycho's who want to bring back the dead?" Jee-Han was beginning to wonder just how long the Abyss had existed for even Necromancy to be a thing.

"Of course, I have no interest in performing Necromancy or anything of the sort as I too am not foolish enough to try and tamper with Gaia's rules. Bringing back the dead…" Sung-Gong abruptly stopped as a dark shadow appeared over his face that startled Jee-Han and Sun-Il, who also noticed Sung-Ah quivering when her father had mentioned it. "…is something no one should mess around with"

The room went quiet for a few seconds as the current mood made it difficult to speak out. Just as Jee-Han was about to say something, Sung-Gong heavily sighed as he adjusted his shades.

"Enough about that, I didn't bring you both here to talk about hypothetical ideas and Necromancy. The reason that I have been creating Illusion Barriers and collecting undead souls is because-

"…you want to heal your daughter, right?"

At those words, six pairs of eyes darted over towards Jee-Han who flinched at their sudden gazes as he tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What, did I get it wrong?"

Sung-Gong was still somewhat shocked. "N-No, that's exactly right but… how did you know?"

"Oh, well it was kinda obvious after listening to you explain about the different uses for undead souls and how your daughter looked very ill"

"…"

Sung-Gong went quiet along with Sung-Ah while Sun-Il had a pleasant smile on his face at Jee-Han's ability to pick up on what he had been planning to say. Jee-Han had told him that he had increased his wisdom last night but Sun-Il didn't expect his ability to read between the lines to improve so quickly. If it was the old Jee-Han, he would as usual have to wait on Sun-Il to explain things to him. Raising his wisdom was definitely a smart choice Sun-Il believed as Jee-Han's ignorance of the Abyss would be his undoing unless he could smarten up quickly.

Sung-Gong smirked. "…It seems that I have underestimated you, Han Jee-Han. You look like a typical idiot but you are surprisingly sharp"

"…I'm going to ignore that first part and take the second as a compliment" Jee-Han grumbled as Sung-Ah lightly giggled at their interaction. She couldn't even remember the last time she had heard her father tease someone before.

"Ignoring that for now, I feel that I must offer a sincere apology towards the both you and express my thanks. If it hadn't been for your interference, then I don't believe I would even be standing here today." He bowed his head for the first time towards the two of them "Thank you"

Sung-Ah also joined her father in thanking them for coming to his aid as it was apparent to them that he meant the world to her.

Jee-Han wasn't used to being shown such gratitude in one day and scratched his cheek. "No sweat, you did promise to give me some skill books so consider that as payment"

Sung-Gong stood back up and smiled. "That I did"

Sun-Il had now cut into the conversation. "So now that we know what your aim was, how do you plan on curing her? What kind of illness does she possess?"

Sung-Gong grunted in response as he raised his right hand and showcased the silver chain ring with a skull that was attached to his middle finger "The illness she had contracted is a « **Darkness** » related curse that continuously weakens both her body and soul. I've tried my best to research the symptoms and learn more about what I'm dealing with but unfortunately, my results have been unproductive. However, I regained hope by discovering through a trusted source that by acquiring a large number of undead souls and converting that power into this ring, there is a small chance of removing even the most deep rooted and fearsome of curses"

" _Ah, so that's what that dark feeling was when I first got a look at her…"_ Sun-Il pondered before looking at the ring on Sung-Gong's hand. Both he and the Chunbumoon had dealt with their fair share of magic items within the Abyss over the years but this was the first time he had seen this type of accessory and was curious on the ring's origins.

Jee-Han was thinking of something completely different as he looked at Sung-Ah with a somber expression. "How was she cursed?"

"…I'm sorry but I'm afraid I cannot tell you that. It's a personal matter that both me and my daughter do not like bringing up"

Jee-Han was observant of Sung-Ah flinching after Sung-Gong had spoken those words and dropped the matter completely. If they didn't want to talk about it, then who was he to pry into their personal lives?

"Have you collected enough souls to cure her or do you still require more?" Sun-Il asked with a neutral expression. Now that he knew what Sung-Gong's reasons were for doing this, he had no issues with him creating Illusion Barriers in Chunbumoon's territory anymore. Rather, it was only because Sung-Gong had gotten Jee-Han involved in the Abyss that he was so adamant on confronting the older man.

Sung-Gong heavily sighed as he rubbed his daughter's head affectionately. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to reach the amount I needed before that incident occurred yesterday. As you can see…" He showed the ring closer to Jee-Han and Sun-Il's eyes and they both noticed a large crack in the middle of the skull.

"After the Troll Zombie tried to break out of my Illusion Barrier and after it was defeated, all of the souls contained in this ring evaporated and so now its worthless. It is a shame but I have no choice but to purchase another undead Illusion Barrier and start all over again." He then turned to his daughter with an apologetic face. "I'm sorry Sung-Ah, you'll have to wait a bit longer before you're healed"

Sung-Ah didn't seem to mind as she smiled at her father. "Please don't concern yourself with it. Just knowing your doing so much for me already makes me happier than I could ever possibly be. Rather, are you okay dad? That ring on your finger… doesn't it hurt you?" She asked with pleading eyes.

Sung-Gong wryly smiled at his daughter's habit of putting the need of others before her own safety. "I'm fine, I've already grown accustom to having this thing on my body. In fact, I think it actually looks pretty cool" He joked as Sung-Ah lightly giggled at his comment.

Seeing Sung-Gong like this, a swell of different emotions were rushing into Jee-Han's head as he, for the first time since meeting Sung-Gong, truly felt as if the man standing in front of him was a genuinely good person. How could someone doing so much for their daughter be considered evil? Even if he had injured Sun-Il, Jee-Han had long forgiven him for it and now wanted to help him out but wasn't sure on how to do it.

Just as he contemplated on that thought, the idea of using his『 **Observe** 』skill on Sung-Ah to see what her stats were crossed into his head and he proceeded to do so, quietly of course.

 **Name** : Hwan Sung-Ah  
 **Class** : Black Demon's Invader  
 **Gender** : Female  
 **Race** : Human  
 **Next** **Level** : 0.00 %  
 **Age** : 18  
 **Attribute** : Darkness | Demonic  
 **Title** :《Escapee of Death》  
 **Level** : 12

 **STR** : 6  
 **VIT** : 2  
 **DEX** : 5  
 **INT** : 79  
 **WIS** : 68  
 **LUK** : 52

 **Status** :  
《 **Status Effect –** Wrath Demon's Invasion (Highest)》  
《 **Status Effect –** Wrath Demon's Freezing (Intermediate)》

 **Background** : The Daughter of the Black Summoner, Hwan Sung-Oh and a sweet young girl that was cursed from birth by a « **Darkness** » and « **Demonic** » attribute curse. The fact that she is still alive is a miracle in itself but miracles don't last forever and it is unlikely that she will live for very long.

 **Emotions** : Anxiety, Maturity, Hopelessness, Awkwardness

"… _So she's been this way since birth?_ " Jee-Han thought pitifully as he couldn't imagine a life of being confined to a hospital bed for his entire life. More importantly, she was practically at death's door as her curse was slowly draining her life force and it was only a matter of time until she could no longer bear the pain anymore.

Jee-Han observed the other pieces of information, his eyes widening in absolute shock at Sung-Ah's stat distribution when compared to Sun-Il's and Shi-Yun's. Though her physical stats were utterly worthless, her INT and WIS were through the roof and she was even smarter than he was despite all the stat points he had used. What made it even more amazing was that she was only at level 12; how was it even possible to have these kind of stats at that level?

" _Ah I get it, it must be because she's spent her entire life studying and reading. Being in a hospital all her life must have been terribly boring so she must have really hit the books. She's the complete opposite of me…and look at that luck stat... either she survived because her luck is so high or because she survived a curse that she should have died from is why her luck is the way it is"_

Jee-Han was beginning to feel genuine pity for the poor girl at how unfair it was that she had been cursed like this. He gripped his fists tighter as he heavily frowned, wondering just what did Sung-Ah do to deserve such a horrific life. Finding it to be too cruel, Jee-Han made up his mind to at least see if there was something he could do and continued to observe her stats.

" _Let's see…_ _《_ ** _Wrath Demon's Invasion_** _》_ _and_ _《_ ** _Wrath Demon's Freezing_** _》_ _must be the curses that are the cause of her illness_ …" Jee-Han noted as he clicked on each of their icons, discovering that former slowly drained Sung-Ah of her life force by the day until her body could no longer endure it, while the latter would constantly decrease her body's temperature and would cause extreme headaches, light headedness, and an inability to sleep peacefully at night.

" _These curses both look pretty high end, shit I don't know what I can do to help… wait a second, didn't the_ 『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』 _technique mention something about removing curses?"_

Jee-Han summoned his skill window and clicked on the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』icon.

『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lvl 5 EXP: 0.00 % | MP: 45** 』

 **The recovery technique used by the Yunhonmoon Clan of the Seoul region. By setting their spirits ablaze, they can restore and heal minor injuries they have sustained.**

 **《** **With a soul stone, 225 HP Recovery. 75 MP Recovery. Status effect removed. Illness removed.** **》**

 **《** **Without a soul stone, 75 Hp Recovery. Status effect removed. Illness removed.** **》**

 **《** **The higher grade of soul stone used in conjunction with this technique, the greater the chance of removing higher grade Illness and Status effects.** **》**

Jackpot!

Jee-Han had to hold back the urge to do a back flip right in the middle of the room as he rejoiced at his skill's useful abilities. How convenient was it that the first skill he learned from a skill book would be the one that could potentially save the life of this young girl?

However, celebrating too early would be a foolish thing to do as Jee-Han still had to convince Sung-Gong to give him a shot. "Sung-Gong, would you like to make a deal with me?"

Those abrupt words caused everyone except for Jee-Han to stare at him wide eyed at his random outburst. Sung-Gong was the most surprised as he was the one called and tilted his head to the side. "Deal? With me?"

Sun-Il was of the same opinion as he whispered into Jee-Han's ears. "Oi, what are you talking about?"

Jee-Han grinned at his clueless best friend and stepped forward. "Just watch"

Sung-Ah observed Jee-Han walking closer to her hospital bed while Sung-Gong remained stationary as he observed his movements carefully.

"What if I told you that I have a method to cure your daughter?"

"…What?"

Sung-Gong's surprise couldn't be contained as he listened to the words of this high school student proclaim to have the solution he had been searching for all this time. If his ears weren't playing tricks on him, did Jee-Han just claim he could heal Sung-Ah? Was he serious?

It only then just occurred to Sung-Gong that he had forgotten that Jee-Han was indeed a Natural Ability user, a rare kind of one as well as the nature of his powers were a complete mystery. What if he actually did possess the power to heal others? He looked over towards Sun-Il who, after getting over his initial shock, had an "Oh yea, you could do things like that" expression on his face, as if he already knew what Jee-Han was going to do.

" _Those injuries that I inflicted to Sun-Il should have taken a week or two to recover from… did Jee-Han heal him?_ " Sung-Gong hadn't thought about it before since he was in the middle of a life or death battle but Sun-Il should have been bed ridden after what he had did to him. If Jee-Han really could heal people, Sun-Il was literally walking proof of that.

"…You really think you can cure my daughter?" Sung-Gong's trust in Jee-Han was small but if there was a chance, he would definitely take it.

Jee-Han nodded without hesitation. "If I understand my powers the way I think I do, then getting rid of the _《_ ** _Wrath Demon's Invasion_** _》_ and _《_ ** _Wrath Demon's Freezing_** _》_ should be doable"

"...!?"

Once Jee-Han had mentioned those two names, the color seemed to drain from Sung-Gong's and Sung-Ah's face as they looked as if they were both splashed with hot water.

" _Wrath Demon…?_ " Sun-Il recited in his mind, pondering where he had heard that name before.

"H-How did you know that name…? No, more than that… just what kind of power do you have, Han Jee-Han?" Sung-Gong's interest and fearfulness of Jee-Han had undoubtedly increased as he couldn't comprehend how Jee-Han was able to figure out what the curses names were.

Jee-Han nervously gulped as he didn't expect to be the center of attention so soon again after dealing with Shi-Sen and the Yunhonmoon's curious gazes. Truthfully, he didn't need to recite the names of the curses to get Sung-Gong to trust him; he had only done so just to see their reactions. This might have had a negative effect on the trade if Sung-Gong decided that Jee-Han was far too suspicious to trust with his daughter's life but Jee-Han did it anyway.

"I don't think that's what's important here. The goal is to save Sung-Ah, right? If you're willing to give me the things I want, I'll gladly do what I can to help her remove those curses"

"…" Sung-Gong remained quiet and gave the idea a lot of thought as his eyes wandered between both his daughter and Jee-Han. It was an alluring trade no doubt, the chance of seeing his baby girl healthy again being something he would pay almost anything to achieve. However, the only problem was whether he could trust the school boy in front of him. Even though he firmly believed that Jee-Han was a good student and clearly not someone who would harm others, this was Sung-Ah's life that was on the line. It wasn't so easy a decision to just immediately accept the offer without some insurance that it would work.

"Dad…"

Sung-Ah's weak voice cut Sung-Gong out of his thinking as he turned to look at his nervous daughter who was holding onto her bed sheets with trembling hands.

"Sung-Ah, what is it?"

"I.. I don't you to keep hurting yourself, even if it means trying to heal me. Though I am scared of this illness and I don't know what will happen in the future, if there is a chance to help father's pain even a little bit, I'll do... anything" She then turned her beautiful purple eyes over towards Jee-Han and lowered her head. "Classmate Han Jee-Han, if there is anything you can do to heal this cursed body of mine, please do whatever you can. I humbly ask this of you!"

"Sung-Ah…" Sung-Gong repeated softly as he watched his bed ridden daughter prostrate herself before a complete stranger just to ease her father's pain. He already was lucky to have been gifted such a caring and understanding daughter and he didn't want to keep taking that for granted by not seizing an opportunity when it was available.

If she could put her trust in him, why couldn't he do the same?

Sung-Gong bowed alongside his daughter and closed his eyes. "Please heal my daughter. Whatever favor you want to ask of me if you can heal her will absolutely not be a problem…" He then gripped his fists harder as his body trembled in frustration. "…Please help her"

Jee-Han momentarily blinked as he scratched his cheek awkwardly and just as he was about accept the deal, a new notification had appeared in front of him.

 **«** **A Quest has been created!** **»**

 **«** **Quest Alert: Curing the Black Summoner's Cursed Daughter** **»**

 **Use whatever skills you may have to cure Sung-Gong's daughter, Sung-Ah and receive a favor from Sung-Gong along with their trust and friendship.**

 **Time limit: None**

《 **Quest Reward: Exp 8000 + Increased Trust from the Hwan Family + Favor from Sung-Gong** 》

《 **Quest Failure: Disappointment from Sung-Gong + Decreased trust from the Hwan Family** 》

《 **This is a special one-time quest and cannot be given again at a later date. If you chose to decline now, it will never become available again.** 》

《 **Do you wish to accept this quest?** 》

 **Yes (Y) / No (N)**

" _Haha, it's been forever since I've last seen one of these"_ Jee-Han humored as he faintly recalled the last quest he received was issued nearly a week ago. Quests were quite hard to figure out for Jee-Han as he wasn't sure how they operated and where or when they would appear. He figured Sung-Gong personally asking him to heal his daughter instead of him doing it on his own is what triggered the quest.

Having said that, this quest was certainly different from the others as it was a one time quest that had no time limit. Meaning, he could accept and then do it later but if he declined it then it would be gone forever. Did that mean if he declined the quest then the option of healing Sung-Ah would no longer be possible?

"... _This quest system is as annoyingly complicated as ever. More importantly,_ _why didn't one appear when I told Shi-Yun I would heal her clan mates?_ "

Jee-Han pondered it for a minute and figured it was something related to how he phrased it and made sure to try mentioning it again to the red haired girl to get the quest prompt to appear. In any case, that was for later and right now, his priority was healing Sung-Ah and he was now committed to do so in order to get that favor from Sung- Gong him.

Jee-Han looked back towards Sun-Il who had been pretty quiet the entire time as the Chunbumoon boy merely shrugged his shoulders and sported a friendly smile. "Go for it man, you healed me up nice and good so there's no reason not to, right?"

Jee-Han couldn't argue there as he nodded his head and pressed confirm, smiling towards the father and daughter duo who were puzzled on why Jee-Han would randomly poke the air in front of him.

"Leave it to me, I'll fix her right up"

* * *

 **A/N: Neat, huh? As you some of you may have already guessed, Sung-Ah is going to be apart of this story but unlike in the original, Jee-Han is the one who's going to cure her. I always found it rather anticlimactic that Jee-Han never got the opportunity to completely heal her so I decided to go this route.**

 **Jee-Han's wisdom definitely seemed like a worthy investment as he can now pick up on things much quicker and will be developing into quite the tactical strategist sooner or later. As for what skills he will learn, I'll let you all pitch some suggestions and maybe I might use em, who knows?**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I will be posting the next one whenever I can.**

 **Look forward to the next one!  
**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han **  
** **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Plague to Zombies》 **  
** **Level:** 21

 **Element Affinity:**  
• **Nature** \- 10

 **HP:** 1190/1190 **  
** **MP:** 2030/2030  
 **SP:** 350/350  
 **  
** **STR:** 29 (↑3 UP) **  
** **VIT:** 32 (↑2 UP) **  
** **DEX:** 26 (↑2 UP) **  
** **INT:** 63 (↑2 UP) **  
** **WIS:** 64 (↑3 UP) **  
** **LUK:** 11

 **Points:** 0 **  
** **Money:** ₩1,703,001

* * *

« **Skills** »

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Vine Control (Active) | Lv: 3 **«↑1 UP»**

 **Defensive:**  
• Mana Shield (Active) | Lv: 5 **«↑2 UP»**

 **Support:**  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 5 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Observe (Active) | Lv: 14 **«↑6 UP»**  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 8 **«↑3 UP»**  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 6 **«↑1 UP»**  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 8 **«↑3 UP»**  
• Spirit Channel (Active) | Lv: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) | Lv: MAX  
• Replication (Active) | Lv: 3 **«↑1 UP»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lv: 8 **«↑4 UP»**  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3

 **Miscellaneous:**  
• ID Create (Active) | Lv: 5 **«↑3 UP»**  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 4 **«↑3 UP»**


	14. (Arc 2) Chapter 14

**A/N: Jee-Han's decided to heal Sung-Ah with his gaming powers, how will that work out? What items will Jee-Han receive if he does indeed cure her? Read on and you might find out.**

 **REMINDER!**

 **You can find some avatars of the OC's that I've made for the story by going to my DeviantART page by googling "TheBlackDuelist".**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 14**

Having now accepted Sung-Gong's request to cure Sung-Ah's sickness, Jee-Han immediately made his way over towards the bed as Sung-Ah nervously awaited what sort of treatment was in store for her. Even though she had voiced out her trust in Jee-Han, she really didn't have much hope of her sickness being cured. How could she? Her father had spent years trying to track down a way to save her and always came up empty. Even if there was a way to cure her, how could Jee-Han possibly have it?

"By the way" Jee-Han began as he took a look at Sung-Gong's arm and raised his eyebrow. "How did you fix your missing hand? Wasn't it detached from your arm?"

"Ah? Oh that..." Sung-Gong glanced at his daughter who made a "What is he talking about?" face and sighed. "Do not concern yourself with it. I already told you I had my methods towards restoring it, didn't I? More importantly, may I ask what type of method you are going to use to heal her?"

Jee-Han was disappointed that Sung-Gong wouldn't tell him how he fixed his arm but shrugged nonetheless. "I'll be using something that's called the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』technique"

Sung-Gong's eyes widened in surprise. "You've learned abilities from the Yunhonmoon? Moreover, isn't that technique one of their most effective healing techniques?"

Jee-Han shrugged. "Well, I don't know _that_ much about it but it is true that I learned it. As for how, you could say I picked it up by accident"

It wasn't hard to imagine how this piece of information would confuse Sung-Gong as he cocked his head to the side. "I'm not sure I follow… but I'll leave that matter aside. Are you certain this technique can heal such a deep rooted curse? It's not just your typical cold you know? It's one of the deadliest curses among both the « **Darkness** » and « **Demonic** » attributes and any guaranteed methods on how to cure have yet to…"

Sung-Gong was abruptly cut off as he noticed Jee-Han waving his hand in the older man's face. "I get it already, it's a nasty bugger. Is it really that hard for you to at least have a _little_ faith? Or what, did me saving your life not prove that I'm someone you can rely on?"

"…Well that's…." Sung-Gong hesitated, ignoring the sound of someone holding back a laugh in the background, as he couldn't refute the sophomore's words and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "…a very good point"

Jee-Han grinned. "Now that's the spirit. Though you do have a point, normally this technique can't get rid of high level curses or sicknesses without a top grade soul stone. Luckily…" Jee-Han then reached into his inventory and pulled out a somewhat large purple crystal and showed it off. "I've got the cream of the crop right here"

Gasps of amazement filled the room as both Sung-Gong and Sung-Ah marveled at the crystal's radiance. The only one's not surprised were of course Jee-Han along with Sun-Il, the latter of whom who frowned a bit when Jee-Han had pulled out the priceless crystal. No doubt trying to show off, Sun-Il thought his friend was pretty dumb for using the extremely rare soul stone without having first tested out the lesser ones but decided not to speak out against it. Jee-Han probably thought of the same thing but still chose to use it to save the girl for whatever reason and Sun-Il just couldn't continue to fault him for that.

In the end, Sun-Il resigned himself to let Jee-Han make his own decisions and carve out his own future. He'd still stop Jee-Han at all costs if the geek did something truly outrageous that would put his own life in danger but for the matter of curing Sung-Ah, Sun-Il was resigned to stay back and support his friend in whatever way he could.

"It's so pretty…" Sung-Ah whispered as she had never seen such a marvelous gem in her life before.

"This is…" Sung-Gong couldn't believe his eyes. « **Soul Stones** » were already hard to come by materials that only veteran alchemists could craft through the use of undead souls. How could Jee-Han have possibly obtained a soul stone of such pure and top quality when even he, the « **Black Summoner** » couldn't? Did the boy even realize how much that gem would be worth in the underground market? To use such an item on his daughter that he barely even knew, it just baffled the older man.

Jee-Han gripped the stone tighter as he then looked back at Sung-Ah and reached his hand out. "You ready?"

Sung-Ah remained motionless for a second as her mind had drifted when seeing the gem and she slowly nodded, grabbing his hand. Her heart began to beat a little faster as she blushed lightly at holding a boy her own age's hand for the first time. Sung-Gong watched from the side, his eyebrow ticking slightly in annoyance at seeing his daughter hold hands with a boy but cast that childish thought away and awaited the outcome. He couldn't remember the last time he was this nervous over something that wasn't a life or death battle against either Abyss members or undead monsters.

Jee-Han heavily frowned as he continued to hold Sung-Ah's surprisingly cold hand that was no doubt a product of the《 **Wrath Demon's Freezing** 》curse. " _Her hand is so cold... she's been enduring something like this since birth? What... what makes her so strong willed?_ "

With his heart already resolved to do whatever he could to heal the young girl, Jee-Han steeled himself even further as he clenched the crystal in his hands tighter and activated the skill.

"Yunhon Soul Recovery!"

A luminous white light shined in the hospital room as Sung-Ah's body was enveloped in a breathtaking glow. The soul stone that Jee-Han was holding in his hand then evaporated into thin air as the glow from earlier still surrounded Sung-Ah's body while Sung-Gong and Sun-Il both watched with a nervous gaze.

A few seconds later, the glowing spectacle finally began to recede as Sung-Ah's previously radiant body soon dimmed and all three men in the room began to stare at the result of the experiment.

"S-Sung-Ah…" Sung-Gong repeated as softly as Jee-Han had ever heard him say anything as a few tears fell from his face at seeing his daughter's extremely pale complexion vanish without a trace. Her previously skinny and wrinkled body was now surging with energy and vitality as she clearly put on a few light pounds that were clearly an after effect of the curse's physical drainage. Her face, that had a looming shadow over it looked as good as new and her eyes, lips, and skin tone had grown in volumes, having now looked as if it had undergone a complete reconstruction.

If one word could describe what all men would think when they looked at this girl right now, it would unanimously be gorgeous. Jee-Han, who was now slightly flustered at seeing the beautiful girl in front of him, quickly let go of her hand. It was now Jee-Han's turn to feel his heart beat race a bit as he couldn't help but compare Sung-Ah to Shi-Yun and, in terms of looks, found that Sung-Ah had more of a cuteish charm while Shi-Yun was more of a mature beauty.

Sung-Ah, the golden girl in all of this looked at her body several times while blinking, as if what had just happened had all been a dream. There was a mirror on the other side of her bed and she slowly grabbed it and took a look at herself with wide eyes. It hadn't even occurred to her yet that she had begun to shed tears and she looked at her father who was as speechless as she was. "Dad… is this…?"

Sung-Gong didn't respond as he just walked right in front of Sung-Ah and immediately brought her into a tight embrace while silently crying tears of joy. Sung-Ah was momentarily surprised but embraced him back while she let out a small whimper.

"You're going to be fine…" Sung-Gong whispered quietly as Sung-Ah only nodded her head as they both didn't say a word after that, leaving Jee-Han a little emotional at the father daughter moment and satisfied with his handiwork.

Sun-Il nudged Jee-Han from the side as he smiled at his best friend's achievement. "Nice work"

"Of course, I said I'd do it didn't I?

Sun-Il snorted with an amused grin. "And since when have you delivered on your promises?"

"Oh shut it, you know I'm great" Jee-Han responded but felt a sense of worry in the back of his head.

" _I should probably check just to make sure …_ " Jee-Han used his『 **Observe** 』skill to naturally check on Sung-Ah's condition and to his relief, both the《 **Wrath Demon's Invasion** 》and《 **Wrath Demon's Freezing** 》were cleared from her body. Though he did feel a little regretful that he lost the priceless « **Soul Stone** », the amount of joy he felt after seeing Sung-Ah cured and Sung-Gong thankful overshadowed those thoughts completely.

Suddenly, a notification had popped up in front of him.

 **«You completed the Quest "** **Curing the Black Summoner's Cursed Daughter** **"»**

 **«** **You've gained:** **Exp 5000 + Increased Trust from the Hwan Family + Favor from Sung-Gong** **»**

 **«** **You have gained the title "Savior of the Wicked"** **»**

Jee-Han was pleasantly surprised at the notification as the new title was something he was not expecting. He clicked on it and found that the title was awarded to him for using his powers to heal someone with a high level curse and that it granted him a ten percent passive output boost towards all healing related skills. Jee-Han also noticed that by curing two high level curses with the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』, it had gained tremendous experience and leveled up three times in one go.

A small grin formed on Jee-Han's face at the rewards. " _The rewards are nice but why is the amount of experience so low? I just cured a high level curse, this quest should have given me more... sigh, ah well no point thinking about it_ _. That favor from Sung-Gong, I wonder what I should ask for_?"

Numerous ideas floated in Jee-Han's head as a terrifying smirk spread across his face before he stopped smiling as he was taken by surprise by seeing both Sung-Gong and Sung-Ah now on the floor with their heads lowered towards him.

"Han Jee-Han, you have my utmost gratitude for curing my daughter from that wretched curse. Name anything it is that you desire and I will do what I can to get it for you" Sung-Gong stated without a moment's hesitation.

"...Look, I'm really happy you mean that but you don't have to bow in front of me. Like seriously, stop it. It's kind of creeping me out"

"Very well" Sung-Gong obliged as he got up with Sung-Ah who was now staring neutrally at Jee-Han with her charming eyes. It was an uncomfortable experience for Jee-Han to be stared at so intently by such a beauty and he nervously coughed and averted his gaze, confusing Sung-Ah who titled her head to the side.

"I am not a man who forgets to pay his debts and it seems I owe you not just one but two of them. So, what is it that you desire?" Sung-Gong asked with as much humility as he could. As long as what he wanted was in the realm of possibility, Sung-Gong was prepared to give Jee-Han anything he coveted.

Jee-Han remained quiet before his eyes drifted to Sun-Il who shrugged at him. "You're the one who healed her, choose whatever you think will help you"

" _Damn, I was hoping to see him get kind of jealous at being able to get a really good gift…_ " Jee-Han relented with a quick sigh before he looked back at Sung-Gong with determined eyes. In his head, he already figured out what he was going to ask for.

"If that's the case, if you have any valuable skill books that you wouldn't mind parting with, I'll gladly take them off your hands. As you saw yesterday, my repertoire of skills is still pretty lacking and I'd like to be prepared if a situation like that happens again"

Sung-Gong tilted his head. "Are you certain? You did mention that you wanted some skill books before but is that really all that you want? There's nothing else that interests you?"

"Yup" Jee-Han nodded but then smirked in a mischievous manner. "Unless you've got something else you wanna give me? I won't refuse"

Sun-Il snickered at his friend's shamelessness while Sung-Ah giggled lightly to herself, Jee-Han finding the laugh to be quite adorable now that Sung-Ah had regained her true beauty.

Sung-Gong merely dropped his shoulders and faintly smiled. "You truly are one of a kind, Jee-Han" He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small golden ring and placed it on his finger. Followed by a snap, the appearance of a dark brown book appeared in thin air and landed in his free hand as Jee-Han and Sun-Il both gasped in amazement.

"W-Woah, where did that book come from?" Jee-Han questioned with sparkling eyes. Did Sung-Gong also possess an inventory like himself?

"This? The ring I just attached is called a《 **Dimension Ring** 》that is capable of storing a large number of items inside of a separate dimension. Why are you surprised? You brought out that soul stone from earlier using something like this right?"

"Huh? Yea I did but I just didn't think it was a common thing in the Abyss…" Jee-Han felt a bit conflicted since he had thought that his inventory was a unique ability granted only to him but he couldn't help the rush of excitement at discovering more unique things that existed in the Abyss.

"They aren't common, Han Jee-Han. Dad's ring is one of the very few that exist in the Abyss, it's practically impossible to get one now since they cost a fortune" Sung-Ah mentioned openly. By this point, any discomfort she felt at first towards Sun-Il and Jee-Han was long gone and she didn't mind talking about the Abyss openly.

Sun-Il was impressed that Sung-Ah had known such a thing and nodded. "We've been also trying to get a hold of one but their market value is just too damn high. Only the richest people in the Abyss could afford one, which really says a lot about you doesn't it, Sung-Gong?"

The man in question shook his head with a wry smile. "You're mistaken. I didn't buy this ring, it was a gift. I was just fortunate enough to have someone owe me a huge debt"

Sung-Gong said nothing more on the matter before he tossed the brown book in his hand over to Jee-Han who caught it and examined the front page.

" _This is…!"_ Jee-Han's eyes widened in amazement at the treasure he was currently holding as a notification popped up.

« **Ding!** **»**

 **You've obtained the skill book** 『 **Advanced Series – Earth Magic** 』!

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

" _An advanced series elemental book!? This is a pretty freaking sweet gift!_ " Jee-Han thought as he was practically doing cart wheels in his head. He was hoping for a decent skill or too but who would have guessed that Sung-Gong was going to gift him one of the best books available for『 **Earth Magic** 』?

Sung-Gong studied Jee-Han's elated facial expression and smiled. "I take it that it is to your liking?"

Jee-Han nodded almost immediately. "Definitely! I've never seen a skill book like this one before. Advanced series means that its top grade right?"

Sung-Gong nodded. "That's correct. The elemental series books are ranked according to the content inside the book, with « **Basic** » being the lowest, followed by « **Intermediate** », then « **Advanced** », and finally « **Complete** ». As you can imagine, a « **Basic** » book will contain the weakest but easiest to master spells, whereas a « **Complete** » book will have the most complicated but also the most powerful spells regarding that element."

"I had no idea..." Jee-Han mentally saved that note as he thought it would be incredibly valuable knowledge later down the road. He then looked back at the « **Advanced** » series book that Sung-Gong had gifted him and frowned at bit. "You sure its okay for me to have this? Aren't these advanced series books really rare and valuable?"

Sung-Gong shook his head. "For a normal magician, I would say yes but that book is practically worthless to me. I picked it up during one of my assignments awhile ago and I attempted to study it and learn『 **Earth Magic** 』but my affinity towards the Earth element is extremely low. I was planning on either selling it or giving it to my daughter to read in her spare time but with you, I'm sure it'll be of better use. Besides, compared to the « **Soul Stone** » that you used to cure my daughter, that book is far from an adequate trade"

Jee-Han then turned his eyes over to Sung-Ah who picked up on what he wanted to say and smiled. "It's all yours, Jee-Han" She then frowned a bit. "I'd... also like to give you something but... I just don't know what kind of gift could repay all that you've done for me"

"No no, this is plenty. I really didn't expect such an amazing book…" Jee-Han admitted modestly as he didn't want to come across as stingy in front of them, even if they owed him a huge debt.

"That takes care of one favor. As for the other one, I don't think another simple skill book will be enough to repay what you've done for me... what to do" The matter of what item to give Jee-Han plagued Sung-Gong's mind as he cupped his chin in thought. Sung-Ah also followed her father's lead as the two of them tilted their heads to the side at the same time, causing Jee-Han and Sun-Il to stare at them with awkward gazes. Were they doing some sort of comedy act?

Sung-Ah's face then brightened as she had thought of something and she whispered into her father's ear, with Sung-Gong nodding his head. "Ah! There was that, I can't believe I had forgotten about it. Thank you, Sung-Ah"

Sung-Gong thanked his smiling daughter by rubbing her head softly before reaching into his suit pocket and pulling out a rather fancy looking credit card. He held it between his fingers, extending it out towards the confused Jee-Han. "Take this"

Jee-Han reached out to take the item and noted the odd design of the lavish looking card, noticing that the words "Abyss Auction" were printed on the front as he glanced back at Sung-Gong. "You're giving me... a visa card?"

A hardy laugh escaped Sung-Gong's mouth. "Don't be silly. Actually, this card is-

"A platinum membership card!?" Sun-Il's voice erupted in the back as Jee-Han flinched at his friend's unexpected outburst.

"What's your problem?"

Sun-Il had a look of utter bewilderment on his face as he stared at the card. "I-I'm sure you're not aware of this yet Jee-Han but the Abyss has a website that anyone who has connections with the underground market can purchase from. That is what we call the【 **Abyss Auction** 】, where you can both buy and sell practically anything your heart desires"

Jee-Han whistled in amazement at the explanation, noting to himself to look for the site whenever he got the chance, but still didn't see what his friend was making a big deal about. "And what of it?"

Sun-Il sighed at Jee-Han's ignorance. "Listen, that card he's holding right over there is called a《 **Platinum Membership Card** 》; a VIP entrance pass that only someone who is highly respected and treasured in the Abyss could possibly have. With it, you can receive huge discounts, look through hidden category tabs unavailable for normal members, and even have items your listing be shown on the front page. In other words, having that card makes you one of the most valued customers in the entire Abyss! Do you understand now?"

He didn't at first but after being told of its benefits, Jee-Han's eyes twinkled with delight as he produced a smug grin towards Sun-Il. "So you're jealous right? You can't tell me you're not jealous"

" _That's_ what you're happy about?" Sun-Il's eyebrows twitched in annoyance, hiding the rising jealousy towards his lucky best friend. Even if he was a bit jealous, did he really have to rub it in like that?

Sung-Gong was rather impressed with Sun-Il's knowledge. "As expected of the Chunbumoon's heir" He then turned to Jee-Han. "If you really do plan on becoming more active in the Abyss and want to increase the skills at your disposal, having this card will definitely help. Your in luck as well as I had an extra lying around"

Speaking of Luck, Jee-Han seemed to be on a roll as a new notification appeared.

 **«** **By being gifted an extremely rare and hard to come by item, your LUK has increased by 2!** »

Relishing in all of the new rewards he was being given, Jee-Han expressed a satisfied smile and turned to Sung-Gong. "I really don't know what to say except, thanks a bunch!"

Sung-Gong and Sung-Ah were both incredibly pleased that he enjoyed his well deserved rewards. They could gift Jee-Han ten or twenty more items and they still would feel in his debt.

"I should be saying that too you, Jee-Han. It's only thanks to you that my daughter here will be able to attend school normally now"

"Oh right, you did mention that she would be our future classmates" Jee-Han recalled.

"I'll have her transfer over into your chemistry class by tomorrow; the paper work shouldn't be a problem"

Sung-Ah then bowed respectfully. "I look forward to learning together with you two"

Jee-Han smiled as he couldn't be happier for the former cursed girl. "Likewise" He then turned to Sun-Il. "Should we be heading back now?"

Sun-Il nodded. "Sounds good, we'll swing by the dojo today so I can take you to our family's training Illusion Barrier to practice those new skills of yours"

Jee-Han couldn't wait as he placed both the『 **Advanced Series – Earth Magic** 』book and the『 **Platinum Membership - Card** 』back into his inventory. "Then let's go... ah wait, before we leave I've got one last question"

Sung-Gong cocked his head to the side, curious to know what more Jee-Han could want. "What is it?"

"I didn't bring this up before since you left the Illusion Barrier last time but I've gotta know, how did your Illusion Barrier end up like that?"

Sun-Il's eyes narrowed at Jee-Han's inquiry and he directed a suspicious gaze towards Sung-Gong. "I'm also interested in that manner. An Illusion Barrier that could create a crack in the sky? Such a thing goes against common sense and the very principle of Gaia's laws"

Sung-Gong remained quiet for a moment as even his daughter Sung-Ah was looking at him for some answers. It seemed she didn't know either, Sun-Il observed.

"...I'm also unaware on how or why the Illusion Barrier I purchased created that abomination that almost broke out of its cage. However, you can be sure that I do plan on investigating the matter by leaving the country for a bit. On that note, I'd like to request something of both the Chunbumoon and you as well, Han Jee-Han"

Sun-Il and Jee-Han turned towards one another, blinked, and looked back at Sung-Gong. "A request?"

* * *

After their departure from the medical institute, Jee-Han and Sun-Il had arrived back at the Chunbumoon Dojo where Sun-Oh had been awaiting their return. He was currently seated inside the main room as a cup of freshly brewed tea was placed on his coffee table and both Sun-Il and Jee-Han were standing right in front of him, gauging his reaction at Sung-Gong's sudden request.

"…Keep an eye on his daughter you say?" Sun-Oh repeated.

"Yea, that's what he requested our clan do while he leaves the country for awhile" Sun-Il replied calmly.

Sun-Oh frowned a bit. "Was there anything else he mentioned?"

Jee-Han was the one to cut in this time. "Nope, he just wants us to stay close to Sung-Ah and watch her at school and walk her home. Even if she's cured of her illness, Sung-Gong claimed she'd still have trouble moving around on her own"

On that matter, the two boys had already explained the situation to Sun-Oh on how Jee-Han had used his powers to rid Sung-Ah of her strange curse and not surprisingly, the elder was once again amazed at the versatility of Jee-Han's powers.

"Hmph, if he's so worried about his little girl then he should just take her with him" Sun-Oh retorted halfheartedly. Even he wasn't stupid enough not to realize that Sung-Gong was most likely planning on doing something potentially dangerous and that bringing Sung-Ah would be the complete opposite of what he wanted.

"I thought you wouldn't have a problem with it so I accepted the request on your behalf; here's the compensation" Sun-Il spoke as he handed over a small envelope to Sun-Oh who took it and glanced inside.

His eyes widened at the large stack of cash. "This is quite a generous amount, is he really that protective?"

Sun-Il and Jee-Han both smirked. "You have no idea"

Sun-Oh decided to leave it at that as he called over a young disciple who he handed the money too and instructed him to deposit it into the family savings. Once that was taken care of, he got up from his seat and walked over towards a book shelf in the corner of the room and traced his fingers along the top shelf. His finger suddenly stopped as he pulled out a thick lime green book and tossed it over towards Jee-Han who clumsily caught it.

"W-What's this?" Jee-Han inquired with puzzled eyes.

Sun-Oh sat back down in his seat and took a sip from his cup. "That's your reward for your assistance earlier today, geek. I told you didn't I? We recognized you as a partner during that crisis and your contributions towards that monster's defeat were noteworthy" He then placed the cup of tea back on the table and took a deep breath. "That book isn't something we just give out to anyone. Since you've already learnt the basic books regarding the Chunbumoon's principle skills, your next step should be to learn one of the three styles that our family practices. From what Sun-Il has told me during the few spar sessions you've had together, the style that most suits you is that one"

Jee-Han slowly nodded as he held the book in his hand and observed the notification that had appeared.

 **You've obtained the skill book** 『 **Stone Lotus Style** 』!

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

 **«** **If you learn this technique, all moves created by using the Stone Lotus Style will be labeled within the "Stone Lotus Style" series** **»**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

"Stone Lotus Style?" Jee-Han repeated with wide and suspicious eyes as this was the first time he had gained a skill book that prompted him with such a unique notification. This book was clearly different from the other Chunbumoon books he had absorbed as he could feel a faint but noticeably green glow emerging from the book.

Sun-Il stepped forward and patted Jee-Han on the shoulder. "That's the martial arts style that the Wun Family, one of our branch families, practices. You should feel honored, it's quite an amazing style if you can learn to master it"

"Wun Family? How many branch families do you guys even have?" Jee-Han asked.

"There's only three. You have the main family where gramps and I come from called Shin, after that you have the two branch families called Poong and Wun who are direct descendants of our ancestors"

"Oh so Sae-Young comes from the Poong branch family? Huh, I always thought it was weird how you two were related and yet your family names were different"

Sun-Il laughed. "Yea, it's a bit complicated. Anyway, each of the main family's practice their own style of martial arts that are better suited for their fighting styles. The book your holding is a style that's been the most difficult for the Wun family to master as none of their disciples can really use it effectively"

"Is that so…" Jee-Han murmured as he had listened to Sun-Il's explanation regarding what type of book he was holding. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how much of a benefit the book would really be since he already had several ideas for creating his own type of fighting style, but it couldn't hurt to try out a new sort of technique, right? Plus, it was free.

"I'm very curious to see how much of the book you can understand by using your cheaty powers. Go on, learn it" Sun-Oh urged him on as Jee-Han stuck his tongue at him.

"Don't mind if I do!" Jee-Han proclaimed as he pressed the confirm icon.

『 **Stone Lotus Style (Passive) | Lvl: 1 EXP: 0.00 %** 』

 **One of the three founding martial arts styles used by the Chunbumoon Clan. Native to the Wun Family, the history of this style can be traced back to several centuries. By harnessing the inner ki in one's body, the user's palms can be transformed into a deadly weapon that can either repel the fiercest of attacks or crush foes with unrelenting strength.**

 **《** **Passive: Increases unarmed attack speed by 5%** **》**

 **《** **Passive: Increases unarmed attack damage by 5%** **》**

 **《** **Passive: Increases physical resistance by 5%** **》**

 **《Passive** **: Allows the use of Stone Lotus techniques.** **》**

 **《Passive** **: The SP cost of using Stone Lotus techniques will vary depending on the level of difficulty** **》**

 **《** **Passive: 20% increase to attack power and attack speed when used together with Chunbu Spirit Technique and/or Chunbu Outer Ki Technique.** **》**

An array of knowledge regarding the several traditional stances of the Stone Lotus style, along with how to use his inner ki to utilize his palms as weapons, exploded into Jee-Han's head as he grinned in delight. He could already feel how powerful the skill was just based on how many different variations he could create.

"Well, how was it?" Sun-Oh asked with hidden curiosity. If Jee-Han could learn to use the Stone Lotus style better than the Wun Family users who have studied and practiced it for years, there truly was no justice in the world.

A smug laugh came from Jee-Han before he adopted a rather peculiar fighting style with his both his palms outstretched and his legs bent. "You've given me quite a powerful tool geezer" Jee-Han retorted with a smug expression, causing the old man to grunt in an annoyed manner while Sun-Il whistled in amazement. The stance Jee-Han was currently using was one of the standard forms of the Stone Lotus style that required at least several weeks of training to nail perfectly, and yet Jee-Han was using it perfectly after just absorbing the book. Sun-Il and Sun-Oh both sighed as they thought life truly was cruel to them.

"Your ability really is unfair to true martial artists who have to learn those techniques through sheer blood and sweat. Sun-Il, make sure you discipline this arrogant brat properly before all that hot air goes to his head"

Sun-Il was more than content on doing so as he pulled Jee-Han into a head lock and showcased a rather terrifying grin. "Oh I intend too"

"L-Let go me asshole! Help! Someone save me from these lunatics!" Jee-Han's cries for help went unanswered as Sun-Il practically dragged his body out of the main house while Sun-Oh merely drank his soothing tea with a satisfied expression.

That said however, there were many things that were still plaguing the elder's mind.

"... _I hate to admit it, but_ _I'm really curious to see how that geeky brat will develop from now on and if he's capable of using that style when even the head of the Wun family has yet to completely master it… and what of Sung-Gong? He's going to investigate the person who sold him that Illusion Barrier? Who could have possibly sold it to him?… I suppose it does no good thinking about it, we'll just have to wait and see"_

Of course, there was one specific matter that Sun-Il had mentioned that was especially troubling for Sun-Oh as he knitted his eyebrows.

 _"The Wrath Demon's curse... it can't possibly be..._ "

* * *

After escaping from Sun-Il's killer choke hold, Jee-Han rubbed his sore neck as he stood in front of a mini warehouse with a large front door. For all the times he had visited the dojo, he had never been to this area before and looked over his shoulder to Sun-Il.

"This is your family's training Illusion Barrier?"

"Yup"

Jee-Han looked back towards the door and frowned in disappointment. When he had heard that the Chunbumoon had their own training Illusion Barrier that possessed a time dilation, he somewhat expected it to look something like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Instead, it looked like a normal small warehouse that could barely fit a few people inside of it.

"I know what you're thinking but trust me, the inside will blow you away"

Jee-Han snorted. "I doubt that. By the way, where's Sae-Young? Didn't she say she was going to train with us today after practice?"

Sun-Il stepped forward as he pulled the door handle. "She's already inside. She's been waiting for us ever since we left school so we shouldn't keep her waiting"

Imagining how her reaction would be, Jee-Han swiftly nodded. "Good point"

As Sun-Il opened the door, a radiant light caused Jee-Han to squint his eyes as he walked forward to join Sun-Il in entering the Illusion Barrier. Once inside, Jee-Han's eyes blinked several times before they widened in complete amazement at the new scenery.

A meadow as far as the eye could possibly see and an open sky with drifting clouds came into view. If you weren't informed that you had just entered an Illusion Barrier, there's no way you could tell the difference between this and the real world.

"Woah…" Jee-Han's mouth hung wide open as he gasped at the impressive scenery that he had a complete change of opinion about. He had no idea that Illusion Barriers could be used in such a manner to change the environment and firmly believed that Illusion Barriers always took on the form of the nearby surroundings.

"What are you spacing out for? It's cool I know but get your head in the game, we're here to train"

"R-Right" Jee-Han halfheartedly responded, eyes darting around the open meadow to search for a familiar face. "I still don't see Sae-Young..."

Sun-Il rubbed his chin as he too looked around before he finally found what he was looking for and pointed in a certain direction "Over there"

Jee-Han followed his hand and narrowed his eyes as he saw several figures a noticeable distance away but found it difficult to identify them. "How can you tell? They look like dots from here"

"You don't sense her ki over there? Didn't you pick up a skill for that?"

"Oh yea!" Jee-Han recalled, subconsciously activating the『 **Sensory** 』skill he had developed not too long ago. He immediately found a large source of ki in the same direction where Sun-Il had pointed too. "That's definitely her"

"Let's go join her" Sun-Il suggested as he took off at a frightening speed while Jee-Han trailed behind him, reaching into his inventory and pulling out the『 **Advanced Series – Earth Magic** 』book in the process.

"I've left you waiting, haven't I?" Jee-Han whispered as he stroked the beautiful skill book in his hand and wasted no time in confirming the notification when it appeared.

『 **Earth Magic Mastery (Passive & Active) | Lvl: MAX**』

 **One of the four basic elements that make up the world and represents stability and fortitude. Magicians from all ages have tried to harness the power of the earth to convert it into a form of magic capable of creating impenetrable walls and unbreakable pillars.**

 **《** **Passive: Grants a 35% damage bonus to all earth related skills.** **》**

 **《** **Active: Allows the free usage of earth manipulation and converting your mana into earth attributed mana.** **》**

 **《** **The MP cost of manipulating earth will be dependent on the amount of earth used.** **》**

 **《** **New Status, "Earth Element Affinity" has been created.** **》**

 **《** **You have gained 75 affinity points towards the Earth attribute for learning an advanced earth skill book.** **》**

A smile that would no doubt emotionally scar children for life emerged from Jee-Han's face at the amazing new skill he had just learned. Instead of just getting a single earth skill, he could now use『 **Earth Magic** 』in whatever way he could imagine! He also noted that unlike when he had learned『 **Vine Control** 』and had only gained 10 affinity points towards the « **Nature** » attribute, because he learned an advanced book on『 **Earth Magic** 』, he had gained a substantial affinity towards it right off the bat. How many months or years did it take for the writers of the book to master『 **Earth Magic** 』and then steadily practice the skill while Jee-Han essentially said screw that and reached a near comparable level in a matter of seconds? The more Jee-Han thought about it, the more broken he believed he was as he continued on with Sun-Il over towards Sae-Young.

By the time the duo arrived at the location, a horrific scene of carnage and destruction was currently taking place as the corpses of several goblin type creatures surrounded Sae-Young who held a goblin by the throat. She finally noticed the boys in her presence and turned around, widely smiling at them.

"Bout time you guys showed up" She finished off the last goblin by increasing the grip of her hold as the sound of the goblin's neck snapping in half like a chicken bone could be heard. Its lifeless body dropped from her hand as it vanished into a puff of black smoke along with the other corpses that were scattered around the trio.

"I see you've been hard at work" Sun-Il answered with a small grin as unlike Jee-Han who was rather put off by Sae-Young savagery, Sun-Il had seen his cousin reek havoc plenty of times.

Sae-Young shrugged as she stretched her arms high into the air, her slim and slender body being especially highlighted by the white tank top and tight shorts she was wearing. "It was a decent warm up I guess, might sound weird saying this but I kind of miss that ugly troll zombie. It was a fun experience fighting a monster like that, even if it was disgusting"

"… _You were almost killed after being thrown half way across a city and you call that fun?"_ Jee-Han thought dryly as the woman in front of him continued to amaze him.

After Sae-Young had finished her stretches, she placed both her hands on her hips and pouted towards the duo. "What took you both so long to get here by the way? You said you'd be here over an hour ago"

"We were preoccupied with something, right Jee-Han?" Sun-Il nudged Jee-Han who immediately nodded.

"Hmm? And what exactly was that?" Sae-Young wasn't backing down as she approached the two of them.

Seeing no reason to not to tell her, Jee-Han retold the events of what had transpired after Sung-Gong had asked them to follow him. Once Jee-Han had finished explaining, Sae-Young looked rather shocked at what she had heard and pointed at Jee-Han disbelievingly.

"Y-Your power could even do things like that?"

Jee-Han nodded. "I was rather surprised myself. Who knew that book I picked up when I came to visit Sun-Il would have such an amazing effect"

"I'll say…." Sae-Young murmured. She then grinned widely as she proceeded to punch Jee-Han's arm in a playful manner. "I see you couldn't pass up the opportunity to heal a pretty young girl huh? Hahaha!"

She then broke out into full laughter as Jee-Han frowned at her response. "It wasn't that, it was just a good chance to get some valuable stuff from Sung-Gong"

"Oh sure~" Sae-Young teased as she rolled her eyes and then turned back to Sun-Il. "More importantly, he wants us to look out for his little girl? What's up with that?"

Sun-Il in response shrugged. "He's got his reasons I assume. You don't have any big plans coming up so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Sae-Young placed a finger on her lips and titled her head. "Hmm, I think? Gotta check my schedule but I should be free for a few days. How long does he plan on being away?"

"He said he'd only be gone for about a week. He also mentioned that if he didn't return within a week that we should continue watching her until we got news from him. Of course, he'll pay us extra if that does happen"

Sae-Young smiled widely when she heard that. "Sounds perfect, no problems here"

"Glad you're on board. In any case…" Sun-Il began as he placed both of his hands on his hips and directed his focus back to Jee-Han. "You said you wanted to try out those new skills you got, right? Here's the perfect place to give em a test run"

"Oh?" Sae-Young perked up as her eyes sparkled with childish curiosity. "Our little Jee-Han's got something to show us?"

"Heh" Jee-Han snorted in an arrogant sort of manner, causing Sun-Il to roll his eyes. "You guys are in for one hell of a surprise today" He then looked around the wide meadow for any suitable targets and spotted a large group of small goblin monsters aimlessly walking around. The average level of the goblins varied between twenty five and thirty, making this training ground the best place for Jee-Han to rack in some experience. "Those are goblin's right? Can I use em for target practice?"

Sun-Il followed his eyes and nodded. "Go right ahead. This Illusion Barrier only produces goblin type monsters so this should be a new experience for you after battling against zombies for the past week"

"That's for sure. Guess I'll give it a go then" Jee-Han was practically beaming as he walked over towards the goblins with a confident expression, though he was still a bit nervous as entering a battle wasn't something he had gotten used to yet. However, he believed that defeating the Troll Zombie had definitely boosted his resolve and that the goblins in front of him were nothing really to be afraid of.

Sun-Il and Sae-Young were observant of Jee-Han's body language and were slightly impressed that he wasn't as tense or as nervous as before. Clearly, fighting against a huge monster had really changed how he was beginning to approach his battles.

"I can't wait to see this" Sae-Young stated with a wide grin as she crossed her arms.

Sun-Il kept quiet but also shared his cousin's feelings. Because they were martial artists, seeing a person like Jee-Han who had no shortage of what kind of techniques he could use spurred on their warrior instincts.

"Let's see, what should I try first?" Jee-Han pondered as he scratched the back of his head. There were many options to choose from, such as trying out his newly acquired『 **Earth Magic** 』or even starting off with the new Stone Lotus style that the old man had given him. Even using『 **Vine Control** 』and『 **Replication** 』from yesterday intrigued him but alas, it wasn't the time yet. There was another test that he had wanted to try out before anything else as he closed his eyes.

Almost instantly, a huge surge of energy emitted from Jee-Han's body as the air around him began to violently twist like an uncontrollable hurricane. No doubt thanks to raising both his INT and WIS to over fifty, Jee-Han's control over his mana couldn't be compared to what he had worked with before and his total overall output of mana was staggering.

"O-Oi… is that really Jee-Han?" Sae-Young stated disbelievingly as she too could feel the pressure of his mana even standing from such a distance.

"…Looks like we're in for something special" Sun-Il admitted with a nervous drip of sweat coming off of his face. What exactly was Jee-Han trying to do?

The goblins that were walking around Jee-Han also seemed to notice his energy as they all immediately turned towards him and rushed at him with their clubs, swords, and axe's.

" _Seven… eight… nine… there's ten of them"_ Jee-Han counted in his head as the goblin's ugly cries began to become clearer as they approached him. He then smirked as the energy in his body had finished gathering, causing him to raise both of his hands towards the goblins and point at them as if he was making a finger gun.

"Die"

In a flash, an endless volley of energy blasts were continuously fired at the unorganized goblin's who were nothing but lambs to the slaughter as their bodies were bombarded with a never ending stream of blasts. Jee-Han's fingers were both synced perfectly as he slowly transitioned his body from one side of the meadow to the other, shooting all of the goblins with accurate precision as they turned into lifeless corpses.

Moments later, the firing had stopped as Jee-Han smirked as he "blew" on the tips of his fingers, as if he had actually fired off a machine gun. He smiled at the results, noticing the piles of ashes that remained of the corpses and his exp having gained a small but gradual amount.

Of course, that wasn't what the only piece of good news that Jee-Han had been waiting for as a new notification had appeared.

« **Ding!** **»**

 **You've thought of a new skill!**

 **What would you like to name it?**

" _Hmm_ …" Jee-Han thought for a second before a creative and dare he say, badass name appeared in his head.

"Meteor Shot"

 **Would you like to name it "Meteor Shot"?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

He pressed confirm.

『 **Meteor Shot (Active) | Level 1 EXP 0.00 % | MP: 150** 』

 **A technique created by the Gamer to gather and then fire off an endless amount of energy blasts. The user has the option of using either a single finger for a set amount of blasts or both fingers to double the amount.  
** **  
** **# of blasts that can be fired off in a second: 3**

" _Looks like the first experiment was a success…_ " Jee-Han proudly nodded at his successful experiment and how his need for a continuous and less MP costly technique was taken care of. From the『 **Spiral Javelin** 』to the『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』, he had far too many moves that were impractical to use in combat scenarios against not only smaller but also more agile adversaries that wouldn't just stand still and let him hit them.

Not only that, but Jee-Han had always dreamed of using a move like the Spirit Gun that was inspired from one of his favorite shows of all time, Yu Yu Hakusho.

Walking over towards the defeated corpses of goblins, Jee-Han examined the loot and was frankly disappointed nothing of importance had dropped except for a few stacks of cash.

"As I thought, I'll have to kill bosses if I want the goodies" He was already beginning to miss the Troll Zombie.

"O-Oi… Jee-Han…"

That stuttering voice came from behind as he noticed Sae-Young and Sun-Il had walked over towards him with quite the amusing expressions.

"What's up?"

"J-Just what kind of move was that!? What were all those blasts about!?" Sae-Young exploded out in exasperation as her expectations for Jee-Han's new moves were completely shattered.

"Oh that, it was just a move I thought of after I raised my wisdom. I couldn't do it before since my control over my mana was pretty garbage but after gaining a passive called『 **Mana's Charm** 』, it seemed to just come to me"

That wasn't wrong. The passive didn't just improve Jee-Han's magic related stats, it also helped his imagination and concentration when gathering his mana, if that wasn't already obvious by the technique he had just shown off.

"I thought you were planning on using that javelin thing you used before but I really wasn't expecting something like that" Sun-Il stated with a more composed, but still surprised expression.

Jee-Han shrugged as he deposited the cash he had just gained, increasing his funds by a small amount. "『 **Spiral Javelin** 』takes too long to cast and isn't really usable against enemies like this"

"…Good observation" Sun-Il was quite impressed with Jee-Han's rather mindful observation. Once again, telling him to raise his wisdom had definitely worked out for the better.

"Still, you surprised me! You're really like a magician now!" Sae-Young complimented as she tried to playfully punch his arm again but Jee-Han was quick enough to react and dodge it in time. It would be a cold day in hell before he would let Sae-Young use him like a punching bag forever.

"Thanks, but I'm still not done with my tests" Jee-Han's next target's were another group of goblins, except this time there were only three of them but they were much larger and more intimidating than the last group, holding bigger swords and better equipment. "Those guys look good"

"I'll call them for you" Sun-Il offered as he picked up three small stones off the ground. He took a step back and then threw the stones towards the three larger goblins, simultaneously hitting each of them at the same time. This act had gotten their attention as they growled towards Jee-Han's group and came running forward towards him as Sun-Il and Sae-Young backed away.

"Their all yours" Sun-Il snickered as he waited to see what kind of other moves Jee-Han was planning on using.

"… _Was that really necessary?_ " Jee-Han thought dryly as he cursed Sun-Il for grabbing their aggro before sighing and focusing back on them.

"Well whatever" He took a deep breath, beginning to channel his energy once again and placed a hand on the soft ground, directly pouring his mana into the earth as he closed his eyes in the process.

" _To to manipulate the earth, I have to feel as if my hand is attached to the ground itself… attach… attach…"_

Jee-Han endlessly repeated those words in his head as his mana began to become intertwined with the earth and he swiftly opened his eyes.

"Earth Spikes!"

The goblin that was leading the trio approaching Jee-Han immediately felt a disturbance under his feet and tried to move away but was unable to react in time as a group of sharp earth spikes erupted from underneath his feet. The other two were lucky enough not to get entangled in the mess as they rolled away from the center goblin, whose body was now dangling in mid air as its entire torso was pierced by the several earth spikes sticking out from the ground.

"That's one down…" Jee-Han whispered as he took note of the two remaining goblin's now charging at him with their blades, completely enraged that one of their comrades had been killed.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget about you two" Jee-Han smirked, following up by balling both of his hands into a fist and had them face one another but left a small gap in between them.

As he did this, the earth around the goblins began to morph as a pair of hands were created, mimicking the exact same position that Jee-Han's hands were in while the goblins abruptly stopped and raised their guards to the highest level.

Of course, that still wasn't going to save them from their ultimate demise at the hands of Jee-Han's new experiment.

"Rock Crusher"

Jee-Han proceeded to pound his hands together and in transition, the large earth hands did so as well as they squashed the two goblins together instantly, their bodies being mashed together like a bad case of a child playing with a can of play-dough.

The two goblin's cries of agony didn't last long as their bodies evaporated into a black smoke, leaving more stacks of cash on the ground while the rock hands began to fall apart and molded back with the earth.

Jee-Han sighed in relief as he grinned widely at another successful experiment, not noticing that Sun-Il and Sae-Young were both speechless once again. It wasn't just Jee-Han's usage of such advanced『 **Earth Magic** 』that made them stunned into silence; it was how quickly he had learned how to do so. Even if you had given a person an easy to follow book on how to learn basic elemental magic, surely it took more than a single attempt to use techniques of that caliber without any form of practice? Nervous sweat began to fall from Sun-Il as he slowly began to come to the realization that if given enough time, Jee-Han's potential strength in the future would be in class far above even the most powerful members of the Abyss. The only question was, whose side would Jee-Han be on when that time came?

"So, what'd you guys think?" Jee-Han asked abruptly as he walked over towards both his friends after having picked up the loot.

Sae-Young was the first to respond as she whistled in amazement. "Man Jee-Han, you really are something else. We've always known Natural Abilty users were scary in the growth department but you're a entirely new breed of monster"

Jee-Han looked pleased with the praise but shook his head. "This is only the beginning. I've still got a long way to go before I'm at a level where I can fight with you guys better against monsters like the Troll Zombie"

Sun-Il look surprised. "That's what you're preparing for? You do realize that the Troll Zombie was an abomination outside of the normal type of creatures that exist in Illusion Barriers right?"

Jee-Han nodded. "I already figured that much but still, you can never be too careful right?"

"...I suppose your right" Sun-Il admitted as he dropped his shoulders but then remembered something. "Oh by the way, how much experience do those things give you?"

Jee-Han checked his experience bar. "It's only at thirty five percent. Before I killed those goblins, it was at thirty three"

"I see, so you roughly get about one experience point for every seven or so goblins. The level rate is much worse than when you were killing zombies, probably because your level is higher now"

"Level rate? What are you guys talking about? It's about games right? Right?" Sae-Young pestered on as she watched the duo exchange game related talks she was clueless on. It wasn't fair, she wanted to know too!

"Should we party up?" Sun-Il ignored his cousin and asked as he concluded that since they were all together, making another party wouldn't be a bad idea.

Jee-Han however, shook his head. "The gap between our levels is still greater than ten and so we can't use the « **Equal Distribution** » feature. Without that, the small experience we would gain would just be shared, making it much harder for us to level"

Sun-Il agreed wholeheartedly after thinking about it for a minute. "You're definitely right. It would be much smarter for us to train separately, at least until you catch up with our levels"

Jee-Han nodded. "Agreed. That reminds me, don't you guys have available stat points you can use? You don't want to use them?"

Sun-Il's eyes widened in realization as he recalled that he had indeed leveled up several times under Jee-Han's party system and accumulated numerous stat points. "That's right, I completely forgot about those. Thanks for reminding me but we'll hold off on using them for now, I want to understand your powers better before I make a decision on what to use"

Sae-Young however was of a different opinion. "Speak for yourself! I want to use my points! Jee-Han, create a party for me to-agh!"

She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as Sun-Il had already grabbed his cousin by her shirt and began dragging her off to go and train. "Save it, If I don't get to use mine, you don't either"

"Damn it let go! That's not fair!" Sae-Young whined as she was pulled away.

Jee-Han didn't really mind creating the party for her but judged Sun-Il's words to be the wisest choice and respected his decision. In any case, he had already tested two of the techniques he had been itching to try and was more than pleased by the result. By learning『 **Earth Magic** 』, he had increased both his versatility and unpredictability and with the『 **Meteor Shot** 』, he could clear mobs much faster than how he did before when he was crushing zombies with his bat.

"Even though I'm only training to help Sun-Il and Sae-Young… why does this feel so damn fun?" Jee-Han couldn't hide the rush of excitement rising up from the pit of his stomach as he gripped his fists and wryly smiled. Just a week ago, he was a normal high student trying to get through life by only playing games and now here he was, a natural ability user fighting against monsters straight out of a bad shonen manga.

"Well it is what it is. I'll just have to keep going"

* * *

Time seemed to fly by as a few hours had already passed and Jee-Han had just finished killing his three hundredth goblin, wiping a few drips of sweat from his forehead. Having run around alot to kill the scattered zombies, he had gained a few VIT and DEX stat points that would continue to increase with all of the added Chunbumoon passives he had equipped. He looked at his experience bar and saw that it had reached up to seventy eight percent, only twenty two percent away from reaching the amount needed to level up.

"I thought that this might be a little faster…" Jee-Han complained, his expectations for grinding out his levels having been tempered down considerably. Though it was no trouble at all to wipe out the goblins, killing three hundred of them were both physically and mentally taxing as he looked over his shoulder, watching Sun-Il and Sae-Young stretch their bodies casually. Despite having gained the advantage of using new forms of magic, the two of them had managed to clear away nearly five hundred goblins in total and barely looked fatigued doing so.

Jee-Han sighed. "I guess using martial arts is still the better option when it comes to saving your MP" Jee-Han had run out of MP several times when he had been slaughtering goblins but thanks to his increased MP recovery rate, he had gained most of it back after taking a few short breaks.

As for any promising loot, nothing but cash had dropped from the corpses of the goblins and Jee-Han was left heartbroken. For any gamer, getting loot from the corpses of monsters was one of the most enticing features of any game and the fact that not even a single material, skill book, or weapon had dropped annoyed him. If it wasn't for Jee-Han gaining the new title of『 **Goblin Hunter** 』that increased his attack and critical hit rate against goblin's by 25 %, Jee-Han's mood would have been much worse.

"… _What if I raised my luck? I still don't even know what that does…_ " Jee-Han contemplated. It was an idea he had been curious to try as aside from luck, he knew what every other stat did in regards to his growth.

"Yo! You finished up here?" Sae-Young's voice alerted Jee-Han from his thoughts as he saw the Chunbumoon duo approach him.

"Pretty much. It's been a pretty disappointing farming session, no good items dropped" Jee-Han sighed once again.

Sun-Il shrugged at his friend's disappointment. "I think this is considered normal, bro. You can't expect potions and skill books to drop every time"

"I guess, I just expected there to at least be something better than-

"Vraaaaaaaaa!"

"…!?"

Not just Jee-Han, both Sun-Il and Sae-Young were caught off guard by the sudden roar that came from behind them as they swiftly turned around to find the origin. Their eyes were then met with the appearance of a goblin that was far different from the others they had fought against before. It was gigantic, at least four meters tall as its body was covered in polished and refined black armor that made the goblin seem as if it were among the highest order of knights. It wielded a large great sword with a golden handle and had its head covered with a black horned helmet. The most terrifying thing about the unknown goblin was its piercing golden eyes that shined through the helmet as it directed a fierce glare towards Jee-Han and the others.

"I-Is that…?" Jee-Han began as he already had some idea as to what kind of monster the goblin was.

"It's a boss!" Sun-Il shouted, completely taken back as he had never expected a boss type monster to have been created within his family's very own Illusion Barrier. He then looked at Jee-Han and firmly believed that his friend's gaming powers had a role in creating the monster in front of them.

Sae-Young however, had a completely different reaction than the other two as the corners of her mouth warped into a beast like grin. "Heh… he looks like he'll be a decent challenge"

Jee-Han already knew where Sae-Young was going with this as she began cracking her knuckles towards the boss. "Wait noona!"

Sae-Young looked annoyed that Jee-Han had called her when she was about to fight and frowned at him. "What?"

"Let me fight against it by myself" Jee-Han requested, surprising both Sun-Il and Sae-Young.

"You? Why?" Sae-Young didn't quite understand as she tilted her head to the side.

"This is the perfect opportunity to see how well I do against a boss type of monster with my new skills. It'd be far too easy for both of you to finish it off by yourselves so let me take it. Please" Jee-Han actually bowed, something the two of them were not used to seeing when the geek asked them for a favor.

"Hmm.." Sae-Young pondered with a pout as she wanted to help Jee-Han but also wanted to fight against the goblin, looking over to Sun-Il who slowly nodded.

"Let him get a try, this'll be good for his growth. Besides, we might get a chance to fight a boss ourselves again later"

"…Fine" Sae-Young finally relented as she stepped back and let him pass her. "He's all yours"

"Thanks noona!" Jee-Han grinned as he directed his full attention to the tall boss goblin and did what he usually did when fighting against a monster he had no information on.

"Observe"

 **«Goblin Marauder»**

 **«Level 48»**

 **HP: 28000 (28000) | MP: 1500 (1500)**

 **STR: 110 | VIT: 95 | AGI: 88 | INT: 14 | WIS: 20 | LUK: 0**

 **«Skills»:** **«** **Vertical Slash** **»** **(Active) |** **«** **Fallen Strike** **»** **(Active) |** **«** **Battle Rush** **»** **(Active) |** **«** **Berserk** **Spirit** **»** **(Active) |** **«** **Ranged Weapon Resistance** **»** **(Passive)**

 **A veteran Goblin warrior that has grown through numerous life or death battles. The hundreds of deaths of its comrades has awoken its restless warrior spirit to claim their vengeance against the monsters who have slaughtered them. Having mastered the Greatsword, the Goblin Marauder is a formidable adversary in close combat. Tread carefully otherwise you're going to die, kapeesh?**

Ignoring Gaia's rather uncomfortable way of describing the boss, Jee-Han was pleasantly surprised to see how much more information that his level 16『 **Observe** 』skill could show him as he grinned in delight. Not just stats, he was now even aware of what skills the monster possessed which made it incredibly easier for Jee-Han to deal with, once again proving just how much of a cheat he was.

"It's weaker than the Troll Zombie but still a boss, I can't be careless with this one" Jee-Han gulped nervously as he saw the amazing amount of strength and vitality the monster possessed. With that much power, one good swipe of its sword would turn him into a bloody paste.

"Should I pull this tone too?" Sun-Il shouted from afar, earning a middle finger from Jee-Han.

"Screw off, I don't need any of your _help_ " Jee-Han retorted as he began gathering a large amount of mana in his body to begin his assault against the Goblin Marauder.

"Let's start off with this!" Jee-Han aimed a single finger towards the Marauder and fired off a single blast of energy towards it. Though it was a single shot and definitely slower than the『 **Meteor Shot** 』blasts, the energy contained inside was much greater and as a result, its size was twice as big as it steadily approached the goblin.

However, to Jee-Han's shock, the Marauder didn't bother dodging the blast as he had anticipated and instead raised its great sword in front of its body, blocking the energy blast as it exploded and left a trail of smoke in its wake.

"I thought for sure it would dodge it…" This went outside Jee-Han's calculations as the smoke cleared and the Marauder had emerged unharmed, with its shiny steel blade not having a single scratch on it. The goblin's golden eyes began to shine towards Jee-Han who shuddered at the monster's dominating presence, taking a step back instinctively.

"Vraaaaah!" The Marauder roared, now charging full speed towards Jee-Han as the ground seemed to shake with each thunderous step it took.

" _Oh shit it's fast!"_ Jee-Han was quick on his feet as he immediately activated the『 **Chunbu Foot Technique** 』to jump away from his current location with impressive speed. However, the Marauder was able to keep track of Jee-Han's movements as it immediately changed direction and followed him closely.

As Jee-Han had gained some distance, he stopped and turned around, placing his hand on the soft ground as he directed his mana within the earth. "Earth Spikes!"

The Marauder's instincts however were far too great to be taken off guard so easily as it immediately jumped away from its current location, avoiding the several earth spikes that had erupted from the ground.

Jee-Han cursed under his breath as he then made a fist with his left arm, causing the ground in front of the Marauder to do the same as a giant earth fist was born. Jee-Han threw his punch forward as the earth hand followed suit and just as it was about to slam into the Marauder, the monster itself raised its sword high into the air, a faint white glow emitting from it. It then slashed downwards and cleaved the earth hand into two pieces as the ground underneath where it was standing shook from the impact.

"Holy shit, what was that!? Wait, that must have been the『 **Vertical Strike** 』attack right?" Jee-Han was trying to analyze what skill the goblin was attempting to use next but was caught off guard when the Marauder's body was now covered in a blue aura as it crouched down and sprinted towards him, the speed of its approach being at least three times faster than normal.

" _Fuck! That must be_ 『 _ **Battle Rush**_ 』!" Jee-Han had no time to dodge or think as he immediately activated『 **Mana Shield** 』and created several layers to shield himself.

The Marauder crashed head first into the rather lacking shield and demolished the several protective layers, smashing straight into Jee-Han with its shoulder and sending him tumbling backwards across the meadow.

" _S-Shit… that hurt like hell…_ " Jee-Han felt as if he was rammed by a truck as his body ached from all over and he took a look at his own HP, his face darkening as he had been left with only 678 points of his original 1200. He had just lost almost half of his HP in a single attack and just as he feared, the Marauder's physical strength was beyond ludicrous. Even with all of the passives being activated, Jee-Han's defense was simply no match for the Marauder's overwhelming offense.

 **«** **Physical Endurance increases by 1!** **»**

 **«** **Physical Endurance increases by 1!** **»**

" _Yay! Wait no, I don't want this thing popping up now!_ " Jee-Han was internally conflicted about the increase in efficiency of his『 **Physical Endurance** 』skill as he wobbled back to his feet, eyes narrowing at the Marauder that was taunting him with its finger, as if saying "Bring it on"

"You son of a…" Jee-Han's anger couldn't be contained as he was now fully committed to sending the creature to its demise as he activated the『 **Chunbu Spirit Technique** 』along with the『 **Chunbu Outer Ki Technique** 』. With these two buffs now activated at full power, an immense green aura flowed around Jee-Han as Sun-Il and Sae-Young whistled in admiration.

"That kid, he's even gotten better at using our clan's signature ki" Sae-Young admitted with a slight pout.

"This might take awhile, that monster's instinctive battle prowess and impressive strength aren't anything to laugh at" Sun-Il mentioned as he took a seat on the grass.

Sae-Young snorted at her cousin. "Pft, it's nothing special. I'd have killed that thing by now no sweat"

Rolling his eyes, Sun-Il ignored his boisterous cousin and focused back on the battle between Jee-Han and the Goblin Marauder. This battle would be extremely important for Jee-Han's growth in the future as his geeky friend needed every opportunity to fight against monsters like these to hone his skills. This was also important for Sun-Il as well as he needed to watch his friend and evaluate him so he could point out what he did wrong and what he should improve on later down the road.

"You won't be able to laugh your way out of this one, Jee-Han. Show us what you can really do"

* * *

 **A/N:** **A cliff hanger to leave you guys asking for more. So how were Jee-Han's new abilities for you guys? Earth Magic is the first elemental magic he's learned and there will definitely be others in the near future. As for the Meteor Shot, Jee-Han felt as if he needed a spam kind of attack that was stronger than his usual Energy Bolt but also faster to cast than his Spiral Javelin. I had just finished watching Yu Yu Hakusho and it inspired me to create something similar to Yusuke's Spirit Gun.**

 **In any case, Jee-Han is now facing a boss monster that is pushing him pretty hard and he's going to have to pull out all the stops to take it out. Also, the new martial arts style he learned this chapter will definitely a huge factor in Jee-Han's development as he will eventually branch out and create his own style that uses the Stone Lotus as its foundation. Excited right?**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name:** Han Jee-Han  
 **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title:** 《Goblin Hunter》 **  
** **Level:** 21

 **Element Affinity:**  
• **Nature** \- 10  
• **Earth** \- 75

 **HP:** 678/1200 **  
** **MP:** 1698/2050  
 **SP:** 350/350  
 **  
** **STR:** 30 (↑1 UP) **  
** **VIT:** 37 (↑5 UP) **  
** **DEX:** 30 (↑4 UP) **  
** **INT:** 65 (↑2 UP) **  
** **WIS:** 66 (↑2 UP) **  
** **LUK:** 13 (↑2 UP)

 **Points:** 0 **  
** **Money:** ₩2,405,006

* * *

 **《Skills》**

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Vine Control (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Meteor Shot (Active) | Lv: 4 **«NEW»**

 **Defensive:**  
• Mana Shield (Active) | Lv: 5

 **Support:**  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 8 **«↑3 UP»**  
• Observe (Active) | Lv: 16 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 10 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 7 **«↑1 UP»**  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 10 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Spirit Channel (Active) | Lv: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) | Lv: MAX  
• Replication (Active) | Lv: 3  
• Stone Lotus Style (Passive) | Lv: 1 **«NEW»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lv: 10 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Earth Magic Mastery (Passive & Active) | Lv: MAX **«NEW»**

 **Miscellaneous:**  
• ID Create (Active) | Lv: 5  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 4


	15. (Arc 2) Chapter 15

**A/N: Jee-Han's battle with the Goblin Marauder continues and we also get some development with Shi-Yun and her clan's stance on Jee-Han. Let's see where it goes!**

 **REMINDER!**

 **You can find some avatars of the OC's that I've made for the story by going to my DeviantART page by googling "TheBlackDuelist".**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 15**

While Jee-Han was currently engaged in a fierce battle against the Goblin Marauder, a pressing concern was being discussed miles away over at the【 **Yunhonmoon Center** 】. The four elders of the Yunhonmoon along with Kwon Shi-Yun, the resident prodigy of the clan were gathered in the council room trying to gauge the existence of a certain individual who had made himself known during the Troll Zombie crisis.

That existence was Han Jee-Han.

"Just who exactly is that brat?" Sun-Lai posed the question that had undoubtedly been floating around the head's of all those gathered inside the room.

Shi-Mai was holding a clipboard with several sheets of paper and scanned threw it, his eyes knitting themselves as his search was unsuccessful. "I've already had our scouting division look into him and aside from his connection with the Chunbumoon and his temporary cooperation with Sung-Gong, there's nothing else about him that's out of the ordinary"

"Is that really true? I can't believe a brat that was capable of killing a monster on that level would just be a normal high school student" Sun-Lai wasn't convinced as he crossed his arms.

Shi-Sen had now interjected with his commanding presence as he turned to his granddaughter. "Shi-Yun, how long have you known this classmate of yours?"

Shi-Yun answered immediately. "No longer than a week, grandfather"

A frown appeared on Shi-Sen's face. "In that time, have you seen him use his powers prior to yesterday?"

"I have not"

Shi-Yun wasn't lying and really hadn't seen Jee-Han's powers at work until yesterday. Even though she knew about some aspects of it, the nature and function of how it actually worked was still a complete mystery to her. Having said all of that, even if she knew how it fully worked and was pestered by her family to explain about it, she wouldn't say a word. She had a promise with Jee-Han and as long as he fulfilled the task of healing her clan mates, she had no intentions of going back on her vow.

Shi-Sen's eyes narrowed as he watched his granddaughter's neutral expression, trying to pick up on any subtle changes in her demeanor. Though he would never believe Shi-Yun would ever lie to him, he had a sneaking suspicion that she was hiding something about her classmate from him.

"You've only known each other for such a small amount of time and yet he was willing to risk his life to try and save you? Fufu~ That sounds really suspicious~"

That teasing like voice came from Shi-Yun's grandmother, Shi-Yan who smiled devilishly at her puzzled granddaughter who tilted her head.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at but we're merely acquaintances. He saved me because I saved him some time ago so it made us even"

Shi-Yan pouted at the lack of reaction out of her granddaughter. "Che, you're so boring Yun-Yun. I feel bad for any of the boys in your class"

"...Huh?" Shi-Yun simply couldn't grasp at what her grandmother was trying to get at it but shrugged her shoulders and merely looked back at her grandfather with a nervous gaze.

"Anyway" Shi-Sen began as he crossed his muscular arms. "Now that we know that the Chunbumoon have gotten their hands on an unknown natural ability user, our influence within the Seoul region could be in danger..."

Sun-Lai snorted. "Preposterous. How could the balance of the clan's fall just because of a mere child who hasn't even lived in this world for more than two decades?"

"Normally I'd agree with you Sun-Lai on this type of matter but..." Shi-Mai's eyes then produced a troubled look. "...can that boy really heal the injuries of our crippled members? Just what kind of healing power does he possess?"

Sun-Lai was a bit tongue tied as he scratched his beard awkwardly. "W-Well, there's no guarantee that he can heal them right? Maybe he'll just go out and buy an extremely effective elixir and pass it off as a product of his powers?"

Shi-Yun immediately shook her head. "Elder, I do not believe that my classmate would do something like that. His powers are... strange but also, very reliable. We can trust him to heal Oppa and the others"

Sun-Lai wasn't fond of Shi-Yun's complete trust in someone outside their clan but decided to let it go and rolled his eyes. "If you say so"

After placing the clipboard onto the desk, Shi-Mai then looked at Shi-Sen. "How should we proceed with this boy?"

Shi-Sen didn't answer immediately as he pondered over the matter in his head. His impression of Jee-Han initially was that of a naive and powerless student that had no business being involved in anything related to the Abyss but he had changed his mind about him after witnessing his powers first hand and how much trust his old rival Sun-Oh had placed in him. Shi-Sen knew Sun-Oh very well and the fact that he had allowed Jee-Han to participate in the battle meant that the boy's potential was definitely worth the risk.

After thinking about it for a bit more, Shi-Sen came to a decision. "We'll monitor him gradually. If his ability does indeed show itself to be a heavy asset then we'll immediately begin trying to recruit him into our clan"

Sun-Lai wasn't too pleased with the idea as he frowned. "Are you sure about this? How do you know we can trust him?"

A small but noticeable smile appeared on Shi-Sen's face. "Whether he's trustworthy or not all depends on if he really can heal our injured members. It's that simple. In any case..." His face then turned to Shi-Yun who flinched on reflex. "We'll be relying on you, Shi-Yun if that time comes since you have had the most contact with him"

Shi-Yun looked shocked by the announcement and pointed to herself in disbelief. "Are you referring to me?"

Shi-Sen lightly chuckled as he flicked his granddaughter on the forehead. "You're the only 'you' that I know"

"B-But..." Shi-Yun reluctantly responded as she grasped her forehead with tinted cheeks, not custom to being teased by her grandfather. That aside, the idea of trying to steal away another clan's close associate wasn't something she was comfortable with doing but Shi-Mai spoke to ease her worries.

"From what I've gathered, he's not an official member of the Chunbumoon yet. He's only working with them due to his friendship with Shin Sun-Il, the clan's heir. If that's the case, then we wouldn't be stealing him but rather, drawing him to our side. That's what you're worried about right?" Shi-Mai asked the hesitant Shi-Yun, who he could read like an open book.

Shi-Yun didn't say anything but her body language and lack of response clearly indicated that he had hit the nail on the head.

Shi-Yan laughed. "That's all? Aw, aren't you considerate Yun-Yun? Tell you what, I can even teach you some methods on how to seduce boys. At that age, manipulating boys to do what you want is a piece of cake with what I've learned over the years"

Shi-Yun was already uncomfortable as it was but her grandmother was trying to add oil to the fire.

"Don't tease her too much" Shi-Sen interjected, causing his wife to stick her tongue out at him while he looked directly at Shi-Yun. "I trust that if the time comes, you'll accept the mission of luring this boy to our side?"

Shi-Sen's powerful and intimidating glare made it practically impossible for Shi-Yun to refuse as she lowered her head and dropped her shoulders. "...Yes"

Though she made the front of not wanting to lure away Jee-Han, in her heart, the idea of herself and Jee-Han being in the same clan wasn't an entirely bad idea. In fact, it actually sounded like a pleasant scenario to her ears as she had a rather favorable impression of Jee-Han after having fought alongside him. Thoughtful, though a tad dorky and empty headed but undeniably courageous and very kind; that was how Shi-Yun thought of Jee-Han who had managed to change her impression of him in such a short amount of time.

As for being in the same clan as him, only time would tell if the Yunhonmoon prodigy was willing to go through with trying recruit him.

* * *

"How long will you be gone for?"

Standing near the entrance of the largest hospital in Seoul were both Sung-Gong and Sung-Ah, the latter having come to see the former off before his departure. Sung-Gong smiled softly towards his loving daughter and affectionately ruffled her light brown hair.

"I won't be gone long. It shouldn't take longer than a week. After that, I'll come back and we'll go on a long vacation to celebrate your treatment. Okay?"

Sung-Ah merely nodded in acceptance as she had long grown accustom to her father being away on long business trips. A week was practically nothing to her.

"I've taken some precautions just in case but there shouldn't be any problems with you going to school and having some fun with your classmates"

A rush of excitement filled Sung-Ah at the idea of making friends her own age and having a normal high school life. "Is it fun?"

Sung-Gong chuckled. "I wouldn't know but it should be better than reading books all day"

Sung-Ah was conflicted as she tilted her head to the side. "I'm not too sure of that..."

"Haha, trust me. You'll have a blast" Sung-Gong reassured his troubled daughter before he dropped his smile and frowned a bit. "I'm sorry that I brought those two here without asking you first, I know it must have been hard to endure when Jee-Han had mentioned the name of the one who-

Sung-Gong was cut off as Sung-Ah placed one of her delicate fingers on her father's lips and slowly shook her head.

"It's nothing, dad. It doesn't matter what happened before, I'm finally free of that curse is what matters. If you hadn't brought both classmate Jee-Han and classmate Sun-Il, how much longer would you have had to endure that unbearable burden? I don't think my heart could take that"

"Sung-Ah..." Sung-Gong said softly as he embraced his daughter tightly who responded by slowly rubbing his back.

"Please have a safe journey"

"Ah, I will"

With that, the two broke the embrace as Sung-Gong turned around and headed back to his car. However, he stopped abruptly and called out to his daughter.

"Don't hesitate to call me if anything happens. Especially if any of those boys tries to make a move on you..." A dark and sinister aura then shrouded his body as he adjusted his shades. "..It'll be the last mistake they will ever make"

Sung-Ah nervously smiled at her overprotective father and wished him well with a wave as he had gotten back into his car and drove away. After seeing the car leave the parking lot and having now been left alone by herself, a sense of loneliness dawned over Sung-Ah who was already beginning to miss her father.

"This is no good; I can't always be a bother to my father. I... I want to help him in some way but I have no strength..."

She then recalled the figures of her mysterious future classmates who had showed up in her life like a unexpected storm and washed away all of her problems and brightened up her life before she knew it. More specifically, the face of Jee-Han appeared in her head as she looked up at the sky.

"Han Jee-Han... I wonder if he could help me?"

* * *

"For the love of god somebody help me!"

That desperate cry for assistance came from none other than Han Jee-Han who was currently sprinting across the open meadow inside the Chunbumoon training Illusion Barrier. The Goblin Marauder was right on his tail as the giant warrior chased after Jee-Han's body and swung its mighty great sword down at him.

Jee-Han immediately dodged to the side and rolled across the grass as he narrowly avoided the strike and could feel his heart pumping into overdrive. The adrenaline of facing off against a boss monster like the Goblin Marauder was clearly affecting him as he had somehow dodged and avoided all well timed attacks that, if he hadn't activated all of the Chunbu passives, would end his life in an instant.

The battle had taken a complete nose dive that was out of Jee-Han's expectations as he couldn't believe how mobile and agile the goblin warrior was. The advantage of knowing what skills and what stats the Goblin Marauder possessed was rendered rather useless as Jee-Han barely got the time to think of a counter strategy or plan his next move before it came charging at him again.

"Shit, this is alot tougher than I thought it'd be" Jee-Han wiped a few drips of sweat falling from his cheek and watched the Marauder prepare for another charge at him.

"Okay, let's go with that!" Jee-Han surmised as he quickly thought of a possible strategy and began gathering his mana while never taking his eyes off of the Marauder.

In response, the Marauder howled loudly and charged at Jee-Han once again, raising its large great sword into the air and gathering the same energy from before into the blade. Once its skill had finished, it vertically slashed downwards at Jee-Han's body but was taken by surprise when Jee-Han had placed both of his hands on the ground, creating a sturdy wall of earth that erupted from the ground and collided with the blade.

"Vraah!?" The Marauder was understandably surprised to see its powerful attack stopped as the blade was unable to cut through the density of the earth wall that stretched for a few meters.

On the other side, Jee-Han panted a bit but smiled seconds later as his『 **Earth Wall** 』technique had succeeded. He glanced at his MP bar and clicked his tongue in annoyance at the ridiculous amount of MP he had needed to expend to produce the attack.

"Che, my mana runs out too quickly. I have to increase my total amount if I'm going to be fighting in battles like these"

Thankfully, he had come prepared as he swiftly reached into his inventory and pulled out a『 **Medium Grade – Mana Potion** 』, an item he had received as a drop of the Troll Zombie, and drank it with haste. The sweet taste of blueberries was not wasted on Jee-Han's tongue but it wasn't the time to relish in the intoxicating flavor as he focused back on the battle.

While Jee-Han had been restoring his mana, the Goblin Marauder had also been preparing its next move as a golden aura enveloped the silver great sword and it raised it high into the air.

"I can't waste any more time" Jee-Han was quick to respond as he was able to narrowly see what the Goblin Marauder was doing through the slight crack in his wall made of earth and recognized that the attack it was preparing must have been the skill called『 **Fallen Strike** 』.

"Vraaah!"

The Goblin Marauder brought its heavy great sword down along with its entire body as it slammed directly into the『 **Earth Wall** 』, completely shattering the obstacle as if it were made out of wood. The attack didn't stop as the sword produced a shockwave that sent a wave of energy across the meadows and left both Sae-Young and Sun-Il, who were watching the spectacle, flabbergasted.

"Damn, now that's one hell of a skill!" Sae-Young exclaimed.

Sun-Il nodded with a somewhat nervous expression. "I'll say, there's no way either of us would get out unscathed if we took that head on"

Usually, Sae-Young would absolutely disagree with Sun-Il regarding her own capabilities and what she could handle but even she had to stay silent as there was no way she could deny the truth. An attack of that magnitude wasn't something most fighters their level could handle, let alone Jee-Han even with his game body.

Back at the battle field, the wave of energy produced from the Goblin's attack finally subsided as a huge creater stretched from one side of the meadow to the other and what had been Jee-Han's impressive『 **Earth Wall** 』was now nothing but scattered pieces of dirt.

"Vrah...?" The Goblin Marauder had assumed it had killed the pest it had been chasing, looking around to confirm any sort of corpse but found nothing.

"Hey you over grown low level boss, you looking for me?"

"Vraahh!?" The Goblin Marauder swiftly turned its head and to its utter astonishment, Jee-Han was standing wide out in the field with an arrogant smirk as he mimicked the same gesture the creature had used on him by flexing his finger at himself.

"Grrr...!" The Goblin Marauder was enraged that its attack had failed and charged towards Jee-Han's stationary body with the full intent to slaughter the boy.

Jee-Han's smile, that looked rather odd in the first place as it didn't seem like a natural smile, widened as the Goblin Marauder fell for the obvious bait. He then pointed both of his fingers at the Goblin Marauder and gathered the necessary mana needed for his next spell.

In a flash, a stream of mana blasts fired out from Jee-Han's fingers that indicated he was using the『 **Meteor Shot** 』technique towards the Goblin Marauder who merely raised its large great sword once again to parry the array of blasts. Though some of the blasts managed to slip through the sword and land on its body, the overall damage wasn't significant enough to slow down the behemoth as it continued its charge towards Jee-Han.

"Idiot! Why's he using that technique when it had no effect before!?" Sae-Young voiced her complaint with aggravated eyes.

Sun-Il was of the same opinion as he frowned at Jee-Han's rather unwise decision. "I'm sure he has a plan... I think"

The stream of blasts eventually came to a stop as Jee-Han's mana seemed to finally run out and he braced himself for the inevitable impact from the Goblin Marauder that had finally caught up to him.

"What are you doing, move out of the way idiot! Oi, Sun-Il let's move!" Sae-Young demanded, a sense of worry having come over her as she saw Jee-Han in danger. Though they were adamant on not helping him unless it really got out of hand, wasn't that exactly what was happening?

Sun-Il remained motionless but was also prepared to mobilize, only stopping himself out of sheer trust that Jee-Han wouldn't be killed so easily. He had faith that after fighting the boss for this long, Jee-Han was fully aware of how powerful it was and that he had a strategy in place.

If he didn't believe that, what kind of friend could sit by and watch as his best friend was being killed?

"Vraaaah!" The Marauder roared as it slashed forward with its long great sword, seemingly cleaving Jee-Han in two as both Sun-Il and Sae-Young's heart froze instantly at the spectacle. However, that soon turned to utter bewilderment as Jee-Han's body that was supposed to be cut in half with guts and blood spilling out, had instead turned to stone as cracks appeared all over his body. If their eyes weren't playing tricks on them, they could have sworn that Jee-Han was made out of dirt?

"What just..." Sae-Young was at a complete loss of words, as was Sun-Il who suspected that it must have been some sort of skill or aspect of Jee-Han's power.

Even the Marauder was stunned as it tilted its head at the scattered pieces of dirt lying before it. Its senses however picked up a faint trail and just as it spun around to confirm it, the Marauder was then assaulted by numerous green thorns that had wrapped themselves around its body, from its torso all the way down to its feet.

"Vraaah!?" Understandably confused as to what was going on, the Marauder picked up the sound of a familiar voice laughing as it turned its head to see none other than the prey it had been chasing standing a few feet away from it with several vines coming out from his palm.

"Shocked aren't you? Looks like you underestimated just who the hell you were dealing with"

In the face of such arrogance, the Goblin Marauder roared with utter contempt as it attempted to break free and cleave him in half again. However, it felt its strength draining as the great sword fell from its mighty hand and it dropped on one knee.

Jee-Han smirked. "Can't move huh? How do you like the taste of my『 **Vine Drain** 』?"

As he had proclaimed, the current technique Jee-Han had been using was known as『 **Vine Drain** 』, a combination skill that he had created on the spot. Realizing that the Goblin Marauder's instincts for battle would make it practically impossible to land a good hit while its guard was up, Jee-Han seized the opportunity to make a skill that would not only bind the creature, but also suck its strength and render it immobile; thus『 **Vine Drain** 』had been created.

As a result, a notification appeared in front of Jee-Han.

 **«Ding!»**

 **A fusion skill has been created through a special action!**

 **『Vine Drain (Active) | Level 1 EXP 0.00 % | MP: 300』**

 **A fusion technique created by the Gamer to combine both** 『 **Life Drain** 』 **and** 『 **Vine Control** 』 **skills into one. The amount of life force (HP) drained from enemies will be dependent on how many vines have been attached.**

 **Special Properties: 40 % chance of inflicting** « **Paralysis** »

Smiling at his success, Jee-Han watched as the Goblin Marauder's HP began to rapidly fall while his own HP that had already been full after downing a『 **Low Grade – Recovery Potion** 』remained the same.

"What an amazing skill, even though it'll take quite awhile to kill this thing with just this skill, the high chance of landing a « **Paralysis** » effect makes it really useful"

The Goblin Marauder's body continued to tremble as its HP began to plummet, its body refusing to move under the effects of Jee-Han's skill. That said, the look in the Marauder's eyes showed that it wouldn't yield to Jee-Han at all and that its warrior spirit would make it defiant until the end.

Jee-Han snorted. "Look at me like that all you want, there's nothing you can about it... wait, why do I get the feeling that I'm forgetting something..?"

As he searched his memory to bring up the Goblin Marauder's skills, a sense of worry began to plague Jee-Han's head at the name of a particular skill he had seen but had not paid much attention to.

"...Ah, there was a skill called『 **Berserker's Spirit** 』right? Don't tell me..."

Just as he thought so, the Goblin Marauder had used the last of its strength to pick up the great sword on the ground and howled loudly, its body suddenly now being enveloped in a crimson aura. Its entire body had undergone a staggering transformation as its already well built muscles expanded further and its dim golden eyes were now shining brightly under the helmet. The biggest change however, was the dreadful red aura that was surrounding its body as if it was being devoured by it.

Jee-Han had seen monsters in games with skills like these far too many times to not know how much more of a pain in the ass they were to deal with. Even still, he was surprisingly calm as a reassured smirk covered his face.

"Well, it isn't as if I didn't take precautions"

Just as the Goblin Marauder looked about ready to rip away the vines binding its body, its survival instinct immediately kicked in as it sensed an ominous feeling and swiftly turned its head around.

"Too late, you're already in range" was all Jee-Han needed to say as the Goblin Marauder couldn't react in time to dodge the approaching『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』that had been fired from a second Jee-Han that had been standing a few meters away.

"Vraaaahh!?" The Goblin Marauder had no idea why there were two Jee-Han's on the battlefield but that didn't really matter anymore as it couldn't react to the flaming Javelin piercing its torso and setting its entire body ablaze. No matter how much more powerful it had gotten because of the『 **Berserker's Spirit** 』skill, its body crumbled under the ridiculously powerful one hit skill attack that made the Marauder's HP drop faster than a house wives' wallet at a bargain sale.

Jee-Han glanced at his remaining MP and grinned deviously after having seen that he had just enough for one last finishing move.

"Earth Spike!"

Jee-Han placed his hand on the ground, causing several large earth spikes to pierce through the Goblin Marauder's resilient armor and impale the helpless beast as it howled in anguish. The extricating pain of having been burned alive by the flaming javelin along with now impaled by the razor sharp spikes were far too much to endure and after a few more struggles, the Marauder's body finally gave in as it collapsed on the floor and it vanished without a trace.

A long and heavy sigh escaped Jee-Han's mouth as he wiped his forehead that was now dripping in sweat. "Holy crap, that was tough"

The Troll Zombie battle was one thing but the battle against the Goblin Marauder had been Jee-Han's first true battle against an adversary much stronger than himself without any assistance. A sense of accomplishment and pride washed over Jee-Han as he noticed the several new notifications pop up in front of him.

 **«You have gained 75,324 experience!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

 **«You have gained the title "Killer of Goblins"»**

Jee-Han's eyebrows rose with excitement at the gains he had received. "Nice, I just gained four levels. The amount of experience I gained by doing it myself is also much higher than what I got when we partied up"

After equipping his new title, a wondrous gift that granted him a passive that increased his critical hit rate against goblin's by thirty percent, Jee-Han didn't forget to check his spoils of wars as he eagerly walked towards the corpse of the Goblin Marauder and saw several items lying on the ground.

In place of the Goblin's corpse were eight bottles of『 **Low Grade – Recovery Potions** 』, the large great sword that the Marauder had carried, and a stack of cash. Jee-Han slumped his shoulders at the rather disappointing loot that had dropped and frowned.

"I haven't gotten a skill book since I fought against the Troll Zombie, what's up with this bad drop rate? I'm risking my life here for pete's sake! Do I have to contact some GM's to get some good service?"

Jee-Han then recalled the idea he had thought about before that included what his LUK stat did and opened his status window. There, he clicked on the LUK icon and found out that the LUK status determined his critical hit rates, how often he would gain benefits during situations with probability, and the chance of rare items dropping from defeated monsters.

"...Why the hell didn't I raise this thing earlier?" Jee-Han lamented as he noted the ridiculous benefits of the LUK stat and heavily sighed. Even if raising INT and WIS were good moves, LUK clearly was a stat he shouldn't neglect and he also concluded it was the reason his drops had been so poor.

He then looked at the available twenty stat points he had just gained and made a decision. He decided to put those twenty points into his 13 LUK, now raising it to 33.

"If I get it to over 50, that'll give me a passive right? I wonder what it would do?" That extremely alluring scenario motivated Jee-Han to gain some more levels so that he would be able to achieve it.

"Anyway, let's collect the loot" He dropped down to place the eight bottles of HP potions in his inventory, increasing his total amount to thirteen, while he deposited the stack of cash and increased his funds to 3,025,006 won.

"Yo!"

Jee-Han faintly heard a voice calling out to him as he turned around to see Sae-Young and Sun-Il both swiftly approach him with surprised eyes.

"Jee-Han you dog, how'd you get so strong haha!" Sae-Young honestly praised as she tried to punch his arm but once again, Jee-Han dodged it at the last second.

"Why do you keep dodging it?" Sae-Young asked with a pout while Jee-Han looked at her dryly.

"Try punching yourself and you might find out" He spat with sarcasm as Sae-Young continued to frown at him before huffing away.

Sun-Il walked over to Jee-Han and placed a hand on his shoulder, a warm smile forming on his face "I'm impressed, I never knew you could be so cunning"

Jee-Han shrugged with a faint grin. "Me neither, I just thought of it on the spot and it all somehow worked out. It's gotta be because of my increased wisdom, right?"

"Right" Sun-Il agreed but also tilted his head at Jee-Han. "But how in the world were there two of you at the same time? Is that a skill you have?"

Jee-Han nodded. "Yea, it's called『 **Replication** 』. Remember, I got it from the Troll Zombie"

Sun-Il produced a "Ah, that's right" sort of face before crossing his arms. "You just learned it but were able to use it that efficiently?"

"No way man, I practiced using it yesterday night until morning. It took hours for me to be able to learn how to mentally command them to do more than one thing at a time"

The memory of staying up for hours and trying to figure out the precise timing and coordination of the『 **Replication** 』technique was no easy feat for the mentally taxed Jee-Han who didn't believe for a second that he could have defeated the Goblin Marauder without it.

"Still, your powers really are broken. That skill the Troll Zombie had was a troublesome thing to deal with and now its in the hands of a geek like you. The world sure is cruel" Sun-Il mused as Jee-Han rolled his eyes at his friend's displeasure.

"How did you pull off that combo though? When did you make the clones?" Sae-Young inquired as she blinked innocently, her big wide eyes making Jee-Han a bit flustered.

"It was after I made the『 **Earth Wall** 』. I used it as cover and activated『 **Replication** 』to make two clones of myself and while I hid under the rocks, I instructed one of them to move far away from here and get in position while the other stayed put to taunt the boss by using the『 **Meteor Shot** 』skill. As you saw, it worked and after the first clone got taken out, I emerged from under the rocks unnoticed and trapped it with my『 **Vine Drain** 』. I knew it wasn't going to be enough to kill the beast with its large HP so I had my last clone activate the『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』that took quite awhile to cast and I'm sure you guys know the rest"

As Jee-Han had explained his rather brilliant strategy to Sae-Young and Sun-Il, their eyes widened in surprise at how well thought out Jee-Han's plan was. The most amazing thing to them however was the fact that he could think of such a strategy while being chased around by the Marauder. If this had been the old Jee-Han, he'd be crying for his life and wouldn't have had the mental fortitude to carry out the plan. In these short few weeks, the person in front of them had transformed from a blabbering video game geek into a composed strategist through nothing but sheer combat experience and a potentially limitless power.

"You really are lucky, Jee-Han" Sun-Il admitted as he couldn't hide the sense of jealously coming over him.

"Speak of the devil, I just raised my luck stat so I should be able to get some better drops now" Jee-Han joked with a peace sign.

"Oh? What was your luck before?" Sae-Young asked.

"It was at eleven. Compared to you guys, who have at least twenty or more luck, you could see that I was a pretty unlucky person"

"We can't deny that" Sun-Il and Sae-Young both deadpanned as Jee-Han dropped his shoulders but soon regained his confidence when he turned back to the loot.

"Anyway, let's see what kind of weapon we've got here. Observe!"

『 **The Marauder's Greatsword** 』

 **Rank: Ancient**

 **An incredible Greatsword that was once wielded by a powerful but insane Goblin Marauder. The sword was forged by using several rare and priceless materials sacred to the Goblin race and as a result, it is a national treasure for them. While the sword is extremely sharp, it is also rather heavy and can only be wielded by those with immense strength.**

 **《Requirement: 85 Strength》**

 **《Special Abilities: Allows the use of the "Berserker's Spirit" Active Skill》**

"Hot damn..."

A gasp of amazement escaped from Jee-Han as he took in the exceptional properties of the great sword. So it turned out that the『 **Berserker's Spirit** 』skill was actually an extra ability that was granted to the Goblin Marauder because of this sword. It didn't come as much as a surprise to Jee-Han that weapons would have additional effects or requirements simply because he had played enough games to expect these things.

"That's one incredible sword..." Sae-Young's voice cut in as Jee-Han turned around with surprised eyes.

"You can tell?"

Sae-Young nodded. "Isn't it obvious? Look at that dreadful aura coming out from it, it reeks of negative ki"

Jee-Han looked back at the sword and squinted his eyes, noticing that the sword did in fact have a faint red aura coming from it.

"What kind of weapon is this?" He asked.

"It's definitely an « **Enchanted Weapon** ». I told you about them before right? Weapons that have certain properties and special abilities that were bestowed within them"

Jee-Han nodded as he remembered. "Even monsters can have these kind of weapons?"

Sun-Il wryly smiled. "Of course not, it's only thanks to your strange power that this thing can even exist outside of an Illusion Barrier. If weapons like these could drop from monsters, don't you think everyone in the Abyss would have one?"

That argument made sense as Jee-Han slowly nodded.

"You said you increased your luck after the battle right? I don't even want to imagine what kind of lucky drops you'll be able to get now if you can get something like this when your luck was so low"

Jee-Han shrugged. "Don't blame me, Gaia gave me these cheats. Nothing wrong with taking advantage of it, right?"

Sun-Il grinned. "Naturally"

"So Jee-Han" Sae-Young began as she casually picked up the Greatsword, not caring the slightest bit about being in contact with the negative aura, as she swung it a few times without batting a neye. "What do you plan on doing with this thing?"

Jee-Han stared blankly at his noona having swung the swung rather easily, noting how much of a damn amazon she was, before turning to Sun-Il. "Is it alright for her to be touching that thing?"

Sun-Il nodded. "As long as you can control your ki and have enough training, resisting an enchanted weapon's mental effects are nothing. We've both undergone training so we should be fine but it'd be safer for you not to touch it. Who knows what might happen when it comes to your powers"

Jee-Han saw no reason to object and nodded, turning his sights back to Sae-Young. "If you guys want it, you can have it"

"Eh?" Sae-Young responded as she tilted her head to the side. "Are you sure? This thing would sell for at least ten million won you know? Maybe even more"

"T-T-Ten million..." Jee-Han had to fight back the urge of fainting right there as he swallowed his spit and took a deep breath. "...I still want you guys to have it. Against what my mind is telling me to do right now, I wouldn't have gotten it without you guys bringing me here so consider that as my payment"

Sun-Il and Sae-Young both knew how Jee-Han got around money and the fact that he still passed up the opportunity to get a fortune touched their hearts.

"Man, you really are the best Jee-Han!" Sae-Young exclaimed as she rushed over towards Jee-Han and gave him a kiss on the cheek, flabbergasting the boy as he backed up and held his cheek with a flushed face.

"Don't just surprise attack me like that all of a sudden!" Jee-Han retorted with an embarrassed face as Sae-Young grinned at his reaction.

"Aw, are you shy because your beautiful sister gave you a kiss? Haha, I guess you really are still a kid"

"...This damn amazon..." Jee-Han grumbled under his breath as he ignored the sounds of laughter coming from Sae-Young.

Watching the exchange, Sun-Il merely shrugged as he took the sword back from Sae-Young's hands. "In any case, we'll gladly take the sword but we'll pay you a compensation fee for it. Though we're grateful that you want to give us something, we can't just take them knowing you risked your life and get nothing out of it. From now on, if any monsters drop any good items that you don't want or need, we'll buy them from you at a discount. How's that sound?"

Jee-Han had no problems with the arrangement and found them to be actually quite more than he could have hoped for as he nodded. "Sounds good to me"

Sun-Il then turned back to Sae-Young and handed her back the sword. "Tell gramps about this and have him place this in the warehouse until we can find a buyer"

Sae-Young nodded as she took the sword. "Got it" She then waved back at Jee-Han and smiled. "See ya later Jee-Han, I'll be sure to get a good deal for this sword you gave me!"

Jee-Han waved as he watched her leave the Illusion Barrier entrance and then turned back to Sun-Il. "So, what's the plan now?"

Sun-Il looked at Jee-Han with a surprised expression. "What are you talking about? We're not done training you know? You may have beat that boss monster but it took you a lot longer than the amount needed to do so. You still have that new martial arts style that gramps gave you that you haven't practiced yet right? We'll work on that"

Jee-Han scratched the back of his head and sighed, a bit exhausted from the near death battle he had just experienced. If he didn't have the kind of body he had that could remove all forms of fatigue and tiredness by filling up his HP, he would have told Sun-Il to screw off and gone home to sleep. In any case, getting stronger was his goal and he now had a bunch of new skills he had to learn and practice in order to be more efficient in his future battles.

* * *

After nearly eight hours of continuous training mixed in with some mob grinding against the goblin's, Jee-Han had gained three more levels and had reached level twenty eight, meaning he had gained seven levels in total just from today's trip. Jee-Han had completely lost count against how many Goblin's he and Sun-Il, along with Sae-Young who returned a few minutes later, had slaughtered but found that their deaths were a necessary sacrifice for his growth.

Interestingly enough, another boss monster had appeared that was similar to the Goblin Marauder but was clearly inferior in size, presence, and overall impression. The boss that had spawned was called a Goblin Sage, an average sized goblin that was covered in fancy robes, a wizard hat, and held a brown staff in its hand. What was noticeable about the new boss was that unlike the Goblin Marauder who excelled in closer range combat, this goblin was proficient in spell casting. When Jee-Han had observed it, he was rather surprised by the stat built and skills it possessed.

 **«Goblin Sage»**

 **«Level 45»**

 **HP: 7800 (7800) | MP: 10000 (10000)**

 **STR: 12 | AGI: 19 | VIT: 20 | INT: 108 | WIS: 96 | LUK: 0**

 **«Skills»: Fireball (Active) | Water Bullet (Active) | Chain Lightning (Active) | Wind Blade (Active) | Blizzard (Active) | Elemental Judgment (Active) | Increased Magical Resistance (Passive)**

 **An old but wise Goblin that has lived for quite a long time and has become a proficient sage excelling in elemental magic. Reaching a level of magic that surpassed its peers, the Goblin Sage has become one of the symbols of power among the Goblin race and wields its powerful magic to crush those that would do harm to its brethren. Don't let it cast its strongest spell otherwise you're most certainly going to perish.**

At first look, one couldn't help but be impressed at the Goblin's rather narrowed stat build as Jee-Han was definitely envious of the Goblin's INT and WIS. Jee-Han had been prepared to fight it for some more experience but Sae-Young had refused and insisted that she wanted to fight it while Jee-Han stood boy.

Though he was a tad disappointed that after making a party with her, he couldn't receive the full experience of the sage due to the « **Equal Distribution** » option still being out of reach as he was level twenty eight while Sae-Young was level forty, Jee-Han was still more than willing to let Sae-Young solo the sage as he watched from the side with Sun-Il.

To call it a battle would be a mistake as what occurred was nothing but a complete beatdown as Sae-Young skilfully avoided every attack thrown at her with the grace of a swan. It actually stunned Jee-Han that Sae-Young could move in such a refined manner and made him almost rethink of her as an amazon until he saw the terrifying grin on her face as she proceeded to bash the Goblin Sage's face in and pummel it into the ground.

In the end, the battle was over before the goblin knew it and they had all benefited from the Goblin Sage's death, with Jee-Han gaining two levels while Sun-Il and Sae-Young also gained two. More importantly, Jee-Han was curious to know what drops would come after his luck had been increased and he was not disappointed with the spoils.

Fives bottles of『 **Medium Grade – Mana Potions** 』, the staff that the Goblin Sage was wielding that had been identified as an « **Ancient** » ranked item like the Marauder's Greatsword, a beautiful orange gem that was classified as a « **Sage Stone** », and of course a stack of cash. Though Jee-Han hadn't gotten a skill book, the « **Sage Stone** » and Goblin Staff were two items he was more than satisfied with after observing their properties.

『 **The Sage's Staff** 』

 **Rank: Ancient**

 **A staff wielded by none other than the legendary Goblin Sage. This staff is a powerful relic used by only the most magically talented of and has the power to amplify a magician's magical power.**

 **《Requirement: 100 INT and 95 WIS》**

 **Special Abilities:**

 **«25 % increase in Magic Amplification»**

 **«25 % decrease in Magic Consumption»**

The staff was unquestionably the best item drop that Jee-Han had gotten since first entering the Abyss but the « **Sage Stone** » had caught his eye even more than the staff.

 **《Sage Stone》**

 **Rank: Special**

 **A rare and mysterious stone that contains a large concentration of magic energy.**

 **Can be attached to special weapons to produce bonus effects or used for crafting and/or alchemy.**

Similar to the « **Soul** **Stone** » , the « **Sage Stone** » seemed to be a raw material that had more than just one type of use. Sun-Il and Sae-Young were both beyond shocked when they first laid eyes upon it and informed Jee-Han that Sage Stone's were extremely rare and long coveted items that those deep rooted in the Abyss desired at all costs. Manufacturing Sage Stone's was possible but it required an astronomical amount of resources that forced even the richest of buyers to reconsider purchasing them.

Clearly, Jee-Han had struck gold as he kissed the stone in his hand and stored it in his inventory for later use. He wasn't going to sell it as he planned on finding out just what kind of things he could do with it and selling it when there was a chance of not getting another one for awhile would be foolish.

As for the staff, the Chunbumoon had no official magicians within their clan so they weren't interested in buying it and left it with Jee-Han, instead choosing to take some of the mana potions that Jee-Han didn't mind sharing as he had a couple left over.

Because of the time dilation inside the training Illusion Barrier, one day on the inside was the equivalent to one hour in real life. As such, even though they had been inside for nearly eight hours, not even half an hour had passed in the real world and Jee-Han was once again envious of such a convenient power. He looked at his level five『 **I.D Create** 』and wondered if he could also gain a time dilation Illusion Barrier by leveling it up. It was an idea he would definitely use in the future.

Deciding to call it quits for the day in terms of training, Jee-Han had left the Illusion Barrier alongside Sun-Il while Sae-Young had claimed she wanted to practice some more and remained inside.

It was a good work out if Jee-Han said so himself as his shirt was dripped in sweat, which was a poor fit for his facial appearance that didn't look fatigued in the slightest, another favorable aspect of his gaming powers of restoring fatigue rather easily. Since he did still feel a bit sweaty, he decided to head home and take a nice shower, but not before Sun-Il had given him the funds for the Greatsword he had sold to the Chunbumoon. Sun-Oh, who was no longer surprised by the strange things of Jee-Han's ridiculous powers, offered to buy the sword for 8 million won, a price that sounded too good for Jee-Han to actually believe it was the real deal.

Sun-Oh assured Jee-Han that if he were to place the sword on the Abyss Auction, he would gather an immense online crowd that would battle each other over the weapon like lions having been tossed a piece of meat. As a result, Sun-Oh wanted Jee-Han to sell it to them instead to avoid that and would receive other benefits to make up for some of the money he would lose by not auctioning it off, such as the usage of their time dilatation Illusion Barrier and other stuff. Jee-Han saw no reason to refuse and accepted the deal, now increasing his funds to 11,025,006 won; an amount that made his mouth water when thinking of how much richer he had gotten.

With things looking up, Jee-Han had arrived back at his house and greeted his annoyed mother who got a call from his make up class that he had skipped another lesson. Jee-Han had completely forgotten about the makeup classes and tried to explain to his mother that he had been over at Sun-Il's house studying and had improved his grades enough not to go to make up classes anymore. Though she was suspicious, Jee-Han's mother decided to trust him and cancelled the make up class appointments on the condition that Jee-Han would promise to get high scores on his final tests and exams.

It was the best arrangement Jee-Han could agree too and after having dinner with his mother, his dad still being out on his long business trip, Jee-Han made his way to his room and laid down on his bed, looking back up at his ceiling.

"I've been looking at this ceiling alot lately" Jee-Han humored, reflecting on what he had accomplished today. With his rather commendable victory against the Goblin Marauder, a low level but still fearsome boss, his confidence in his abilities had definitely risen. Though he was still scared shitless of going up against huge monsters, that feeling of wanting to immediately run away had gotten weaker and Jee-Han's rationality in battle became more pronounced.

The gains he had made today were quite worth the amount of effort he had put into training, as he had leveled up nine times and had twenty five extra stat points to use. Looking at his stats, the only parameter that Jee-Han felt that he couldn't raise on his own was his LUK stat that he had placed points into earlier today. His goal was to reach fifty luck and he had more than enough points to do so, but there was something else that he felt he needed to do before that.

Reaching into his inventory, Jee-Han pulled out the « **Premium Membership Card** » he had received from Sun-Gong and stood up, heading over to his computer. Sitting down, he opened up his browser and used Google to search for the Abyss Auction, with numerous sites being pulled up in the process.

"...Which one is it?" Jee-Han frowned as there were so many sites that he couldn't pin point any of them until one site had garnered his interest at the peculiar way the text was glowing.

Seeing no reason not too, Jee-Han clicked on the site that brought him to a blank dark page that had the words "Do you wish to enter the Abyss?" written in a rather flashy font, giving him the option of yes or no. Naturally, he clicked yes and the screen asked him to present his identification card.

He looked at the platinum card in his hand and rather awkwardly held it in front of his screen, waiting for something to happen. The screen than began to radiate a faint white glow as the card also dimmed and the random numbers that were on the card were then transmitted onto the screen.

"Welcome to the Abyss Auction, user 1004387713. We've recognized that you are a Platinum Member and we hope to serve you to the best of our abilities. Please enter the username you would like to use"

Jee-Han didn't really care about what he was going to be known as on the site as he shrugged and typed a name that seemed to pick him perfectly.

"Thank you for registering with the Abyss Auction, **Gamer Boy**. Please also enter the address where you would like all shipments to be sent too and a contact number"

Jee-Han did as the screen instructed and entered his address and cell phone number. He then idly wondered if that was such a good idea as the possibility of people tracking him down through the site bothered him but his worries were put to rest by the next message that appeared.

"Your patience has been appreciated. Be aware that your address and contact number shall remain private from other users and your identification card can also act as a bank card that is capable of storing your funds inside of it to make transactions much smoother"

"I never knew it could do something like that" Jee-Han stared at his platinum card and smiled at having practically a mini bank with at all times.

"Please enjoy your stay!"

Those words were printed in front of the screen as the blank page then transformed and Jee-Han blinked his eyes several times at what he was currently seeing. The website looked similar to that of Amazon, an online shopping site, and had several flashing tabs, items, and sales all over the place.

"Well this is... quite normal" Jee-Han had half expected something more ominous when he heard the name "Abyss Auction" so he was rather disappointed that his expectations didn't come to be.

"Well whatever, let's browse through and see what's available"

Like Sun-Il had mentioned before, the site was filled with just about anything and everything related to supernatural powers. Apparently, this site's motto was that with enough money, anyone could literally buy super powers.

"Wait, but if this site exists and a normal person gets into it, wouldn't that make Gaia intervene?"

Jee-Han thought about it but then looked at the identification card on his desk and realized the brilliance of it. From how he had gotten into the site, only those who held identification cards could access the Abyss Auction. Since that was most likely the case, then that meant that only someone who knew of the Abyss and ordered an identification card could possibly get in and it would prevent an outsider from accidentally getting in.

Jee-Han whistled in admiration at the rather convenient method of preventing ordinary people from discovering the site and softly smiled. "Guess they aren't taking chances when it comes to Gaia"

For the next hour or so, Jee-Han spent most of his time trying to figure out exactly how the site worked and how many different categories there were. It was rather easy to do so as the website's interior design was as simple as could be and only a truly hopeless person couldn't navigate through it.

Jee-Han cupped his chin and thought about what to buy. "If it's martial arts, I've already got the Stone Lotus style and the Chunbumoon style with me. Oh yea, I'll also get some Yunhonmoon books after I heal the members of Shi-Yun's clan so there's that as well"

He tossed the idea of buying any martial arts books and ignored that category, now focusing on the《 **Magic** 》tab.

"I can't count on killing bosses each time to give me skillbooks...lets check out《 **Magic** 》"

His mind was made up and he clicked on the tab, opening up several more tabs that were clearly sub categories. There were far too many subcategories to count such as《 **Elemental Magic** 》,《 **Dark Magic** 》,《 **Healing Magic** 》,《 **Body Strengthening Magic** 》,《 **Observation Magic** 》, and a tab near the bottom that had caught Jee-Han's interest as it was highlighted in a golden edge;《 **Unique Magic** 》.

"Hoh..." Jee-Han hummed with intense interest as he noted that the《 **Unique Magic** 》tab was definitely a benefit of being a VIP member. He clicked on the tab and from it, a large list of items appeared in a sorted order with the name, price, auction time, and seller being listed next to them.

"Let's see here...《 **Void Magic** 》is listed as... five billion won... huh"

Jee-Han blinked for a second, looked at the screen, squinted his eyes and took a deep breath before his eyes popped out of their sockets.

"F-F-F-Five b-billion won!? Why the hell is it so expensive!?"

When his friends had told him that rare items in the Abyss cost alot of money, he believed them to be around possibly a million or ten million won. But five billion? If that was the cost to learn just one form of《 **Unique Magic** 》, just how filthy rich were these people?

He tried to calm down but no matter how he looked at it, it was still a huge shock. He then wondered something; how much was his Gamer power worth? He knew it was already an extremely rare and incredibly broken ability but he never actually thought about how much it would be worth. Would it be close to five billion or even more than that?

"The Abyss really is made out of money..." Jee-Han struggled to continue on as he didn't want to see any more surprises and quickly left that tab, realizing that the amount of money needed to even be qualified to search there was completely out of his reach at the moment.

He decided to look through the normal tabs that listed《 **Elemental** **Magic** 》and《 **Healing Magic** 》and sighed in relief at the prices. Though it was still expensive, what with the cheapest basic《 **Fire Magic** 》book costing around 900,000 won, it wasn't on the outrageous skill of《 **Unique Magic** 》.

"Should I buy more elemental books? Variety is good but..." Jee-Han was still hesitant to purchase the book because of one glaring issue. "...Will my mana be able to use all these new spells and not run out?"

Naturally, Jee-Han's magic was finite and had a set limit on how much he could cast. In the battle against the Goblin Marauder, Jee-Han was able to cast several high cost spells simply because he had some『 **Medium Grade – Mana Potions** 』to restore his mana with. Those mana potions were rare to come by and if he didn't have any when his mana ran out, he would be screwed against an enemy that was as fast as the Marauder, possibly even more so.

"I need to change my game plan. Instead of buying more skill books, I should focus on increasing my total mana pool and also finding a way to quickly replenish my mana"

He left the《 **Magic** 》tab and scrolled through the main tabs, his eyes befalling the《 **Accessories** 》tab that piqued his curiosity.

"If I could obtain some accessories that passively increase my mana, that would be awesome"

As such, he searched through the《 **Accessories** 》tab and sorted the items from cheapest to most expensive. Going up from the cheapest ones, he saw bracelets and earrings that increased magic output and magic restoration but didn't find anything that increased his mana pool.

Just as he was about to lose hope, his eyes noticed a search function near the top of the list and he found it to be increasingly convenient as he tried to narrow down his search through a description of what he was looking for; an accessory that fit his budget and would increase his total mana pool.

His search was successful as three items appeared; a ring, a bracelet, and a necklace that all increased his mana pool by a thousand. His current total mana was sitting at 2500 so the gains of the accessories were rather impressive as Jee-Han clicked on the ring.

"Bracelet's aren't my style and a necklace looks too flashy for me, looks like the lucky winner is the ring"

He looked at the price of the ring and saw that it was priced at 7 million won. It was unfortunate that with his current funds, he could only buy one as he would have preferred more items like this but judged that he just needed to earn more money and come back later.

After adding the item to his cart, he proceeded to the check out station and saw the option of using fast delivery that cost an additional 300,000 won. Jee-Han needed the items right away and couldn't afford to wait 24 hours so he clicked on quick delivery.

He looked at the premium card with a displeased frown. "Shouldn't a platinum member get to skip things such as these?"

Ignoring that, a troubled sigh escaped Jee-Han's mouth as he had just spent over 7 million won in an instant, an amount that no normal high school student without a job could possibly have.

"If mom found out that I was making this much money easily, what would she say?" The idea of seeing his mother's no doubt hilarious reaction crossed his mind but he shook his head against it. There was no way he could involve his parents in the mess he was in right now and just needed to pass those exams so that he wouldn't have to worry about her nagging.

Not long after the purchase, Jee-Han heard a knock at his window and leaped up from his seat with caution.

" _What the hell..?_ " Jee-Han didn't let his guard down and slowly approached his window where he heard the knock from. He opened the blinds carefully and outside his window was a small drone holding an even smaller package box.

A brief silence occurred as Jee-Han stared at the drone for what seemed to be an eternity with a dry glare, as if he didn't want to believe what was in front of him.

"...Really? A drone?"

"Are you the customer, "Gamer Boy"?'

Jee-Han heard the drone speak in an automated sort of voice and nodded. "Yea, that's me"

The drone then opened one of its trays and spoke another few choice of words. "Please insert your form of payment"

Jee-Han was obviously aware of what it wanted him to do as he opened his inventory and saw his funds just sitting there.

"The website said I could use this thing to hold money, right? So... like this?"

Jee-Han moved the platinum card he held in his hand forward towards his inventory and as a result, a notification appeared.

 **How much would you like to transfer from «Inventory» to «Platinum Membership Card» ?**

"Seven million and three hundred thousand won"

 **The Transfer Has Been Completed!**

The transfer was instant as the necessary funds decreased completely from his inventory and was now stored within the platinum card as Jee-Han then inserted the card into the drone. A few seconds passed as the drone accepted the payment and pushed the card back at him and then dropped the package that it was carrying.

"Thank you for the purchase. Would you like a receipt?"

Jee-Han shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

There wasn't a reason not to receive one as a white piece of paper came out from the drone and with that, the drone left Jee-Han's room and flew across the night sky.

Jee-Han stared at its disappearing figure for a few seconds before he shrugged once again and picked up the brown package. Opening it, he saw the item he had purchased sitting comfortably in the middle of the box's foam and picked it up, attaching the ring he had bought to his ring finger and checked his mana.

A pleasant smile arose from Jee-Han as he saw that his mana had risen too 3500 from the passive effect of the « **Azure Ring** » and he clenched his fist in excitement.

"Nice, now I've just increased the duration of how long I can fight at full power. This isn't enough though, I'll need more accessories and items to further increase my mana pool. I'll go hunting with Sun-Il and Sae-Young tomorrow" His mind then remembered a certain someone who he had tried to invite before but was turned down "Maybe Shi-Yun will join us this time? Heh, now we're starting to resemble a full party"

With his plans set for the next day, Jee-Han turned in for the night but was completely unaware that the gears of fate had already been set in motion and the days were he could kick back and relax were no longer going to be possible.

A storm was coming and that storm had their eyes set on capturing him.

* * *

In the middle of the night, five shadows moved across several buildings with amazing speed and agility as those who first caught a glimpse of them would find it practically impossible to identify them as human.

They all stopped abruptly as they each stood on top of a large watch tower where the moon illuminated their intimidating appearances as they surveyed the area around them.

"So, this is the region where the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon reside huh?"

That voice belonged to the one in the middle as his dashing brown hair and expensive looking tuxedo matched his commanding and brazen voice.

"You think that brat we're after is still here?" Another voice spoke, no doubt belonging to a young male whose golden narrowed eyes were enough to petrify even the fiercest of men.

"Jackal's information is never wrong, the boy should definitely be here" That voice belonged to a woman and just as her voice held a seductive and sultry tone, so did the appearance of the youthful blonde.

"Haha, I can't wait for this! I wonder if there'll be anyone strong we can fight, huh Mellow-chin?" An energetic and spunky voice came from a youthful girl sitting on top of the watchtower with a innocent but dangerous smile.

"That would be wonderful~. Don't you agree, boss~?" It was a voice that may have seemed light hearted and playful but the undertone and hidden ferocity was as clear as day that was spoken by a handsome silver haired man.

"We're not here for games. Though it took us a bit longer than we thought it would to get here, everything should still be on schedule. Once we establish a small base here and begin the infiltration"

The man then sported a terrifying grin as his rough but still soft facial features were high listed by the shining moon. "It's time for【 **Paradise** 】to make their next big catch"

* * *

 **A/N:Looks like Krash and the Paradise group has finally arrived in Seoul to capture Jee-Han and other ability users. I wouldn't want to be him right about now, would you?**

 **So this chapter really highlighted alot of key features that will be pivotal for the development of this arc, such as the Yunhonmoon's interest in Jee-Han, Sung-Gong leaving Seoul, Sung-Ah wanting to become stronger, and now Jee-Han having learned of the Abyss Auction and how truly expensive it is.**

 **As some of you may have noticed, I changed the Ogre Illusion Barrier to a Goblin one as I didn't want to just use what the canon had and wanted it to be more original.**

 **That's all for the chapter and I hope you guys are excited for what's to come as I promise you that the dark twist I mentioned before will make its appearance in this arc.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class** : The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Killer of Goblins》  
 **Level** : 30 (↑9 UP)

 **Element** **Affinity** :  
• **Nature** \- 18  
• **Earth** \- 80

 **HP** : 1840/1840  
 **MP** : 3500/3500  
 **SP** : 350/350

 **STR** : 34 (↑4 UP)  
 **VIT** : 40 (↑3 UP)  
 **DEX** : 35 (↑5 UP)  
 **INT** : 67 (↑2 UP)  
 **WIS** : 67 (↑1 UP)  
 **LUK** : 33 (↑20 UP)

 **Equipment** :  
• Azure Ring | (Accessory)

 **Points** : 25  
 **Money** : ₩3,725,006

* * *

《 **Skills** 》

 **Offensive** :  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Vine Control (Active) | Lv: 4 « **↑2 UP** »  
• Meteor Shot (Active) | Lv: 4 « **↑1 UP** »  
• Vine Drain (Active) | Lv: 2 « **NEW** »

 **Defensive** :  
• Mana Shield (Active) | Lv: 5

 **Support** :  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 6  
• Observe (Active) | Lv: 16  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 12 « **↑2 UP** »  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 9 « **↑2 UP** »  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 12 « **↑2 UP** »  
• Spirit Channel (Active) | Lv: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) | Lv: MAX  
• Replication (Active) | Lv: 3 « **↑1 UP** »  
• Stone Lotus Style (Passive) | Lv: 3 « **↑2 UP** »

 **Resistances and Masteries** :  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lv: 10  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Earth Magic Mastery (Passive & Active) | Lv: MAX

 **Miscellaneous** :  
• ID Create (Active) | Lv: 5  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 4


	16. (Arc 2) Chapter 16

**A/N:** **So we ended our last chapter with Jee-Han gaining quite a few levels and obtaining his first accessory in order to bolster his mana. The members of Paradise that are after Jee-Han have just arrived as well so we'll be entering the good stuff of the Paradise Arc very soon.**

 **REMINDER!**

 **You can find some avatars of the OC's that I've made for the story by going to my DeviantART page by googling "TheBlackDuelist".**

 **Without further ado, let's dive on in!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 16**

Unbelievable. Outrageous. Blasphemy.

An array of words all similar in meaning to those ones floated in the head of a certain high school girl that was staring at the class ranking sheet in the middle of the hall way. Naturally, the halls were crowded with students from each class as they were all curious to know how they had scored on the latest chemistry test that many students had alot of trouble with, wanting to also compare their own results to that of their friends and/or rivals.

This high school girl especially was among those in that category as she was a fierce competitor and took pride in the fact that she had been ranked at the top of not only her class but also the entire school since the semester started and was extremely confident that she had scored the highest on the latest chemistry test.

At least, that's what she believed had happened.

"...2-2nd... place...?" She uttered with a stunned expression, her mind trying to make sense of the horrific situation before her. Her name, that was usually standing above all others, was now ranked below someone else; a person who she only faintly acquainted with but didn't think much of until now. If the person who had ranked above her was someone on the same level as her than the shock wouldn't have been worth mentioning and she could eventually accept it as her losing the round fair and square.

However, the person who had taken her spot as the highest score on the test wasn't someone that should even have the right to be placed in the same galaxy as her own. That person, who rarely showed any interest in anything except playing video games and was about as average as you could imagine, had somehow aced the rather difficult chemistry test and had bumped her usual score of first place down to second. Yuri didn't know much about the guy, the class he was assigned to being something that alluded her, but she like many other students couldn't call themselves residents of this school if they hadn't at least heard about how addicted this particular student was to video games. The name of this slothful nerd who was now standing at the top of the test results was none other than...

Han Jee-Han.

" _...How...How could that lazy gamer freak have scored perfect on the test? It's just... It's not possible... even I couldn't ace that test..._ "

Mae Yuri-Sook, otherwise just known as Yuri, was unable to understand or comprehend how such a result had occurred, quickly surveying the other students in the hall and quietly listened in on their conversations.

"No way, Yuri didn't get the top score of the test? Even worse, that geek Jee-Han got the top score! He even aced it!"

"Quit joking around. Your eyes must be playing tricks on you man, there's no way that... holy crap, it's true!"

"Jee-Han? Who's that?"

"He's that guy from Class 2-A who's always looking out of the window and getting spanked by the teacher"

"Ah! I've seen that guy before. I heard all he does is play games all day. Did he cheat or something?"

"Who knows? What's for sure is that Yuri is gonna be pissed when she... oh shit!"

The chattering gossip that was spreading around the students in the hallway came to an immediate stop as all those in the vicinity took notice of the less than pleased Yuri, who was practically seething as she stared down the ranking list. Everyone was well aware how short a fuse Yuri possessed and did their best to avoid getting on her bad side, lest they receive an earful from the rather aggressive and downright terrifying black haired honor student.

" _I can't allow this humiliation to go on without at least knowing how he aced a test that even I, the school's top ranked student struggled on!_ " Yuri then glared at one of the male students who was trying to secretly escape from the hallway "Oi, you"

The student flinched at his name being called and reluctantly faced Yuri's cold gaze. "M-Me?"

"Yea you" Yuri began as she walked forward towards him and narrowed her piercing black eyes at him, eyes that resembled a raven that was hunting down its prey. "You said that Jee-Han was a student of Class 2-A, right?"

The student didn't even bother to try and hide his anxiety as he furiously nodded his head.

Yuri softly grinned as she patted his shoulder. "You have my thanks"

With that, she went on her merry way down the corner as not just the male student, but also all of the other girls and boys in the hallway let out a heavy sigh of relief that she was gone.

"T-That was scary..." one of the boys whispered, praying Yuri wasn't close enough to hear what he had just said.

A female student nodded. "That's for sure. I still can't believe Yuri's score was beaten, on one of her best subjects too..."

"I feel kind of bad for that Jee-Han guy; he's awoken one hell of a sleeping demon"

A round of collective nods could be seen coming from everyone gathered in the halls as they all pitied the gamer boy for having to now deal with an enraged Yuri on his back. If history was any evidence, any student who had beaten Yuri before had whatever confidence they had in their intelligence crushed as Yuri would do anything and everything she could to beat their score and rub it in their faces for the entire semester. One could call it pettiness but Yuri was just that determined to be number one and her competitiveness was one of her most admirable but also one of her most feared traits.

As Yuri made her way down the hallway, a dark shadow loomed over her body as a terrifying grin appeared on her face. " _Han Jee-Han... I'll find out whatever tricks your hiding that let you beat me on that test and expose you for the fake you are..._ "

* * *

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to our newest student. This is Hwan Sung-Ah, the daughter of instructor Sung-Gong, who has decided to take an unexpected leave of absence over the following week. Do your best to make sure she's welcome"

"It's... a pleasure to meet all of you. Please treat me kindly"

Currently in Class 2-A, the replacement teacher for Sung-Gong was introducing the new sophomore student, Sung-Ah as the shy brown haired girl bowed to her classmates who had mixed reactions towards her appearance.

"Another cute girl joins our class! Hell yea!" Many of the boys were ecstatic regarding Sung-Ah's transfer as they had now both her and Shi-Yun to fawn over.

Meanwhile on the girl's side, the sounds of numerous female students clicking their tongues in annoyance were heard as they weren't pleased that they were being overshadowed by someone else, especially a girl who was undeniably prettier than all of them.

Sung-Ah on her side was still a bit nervous at being in a place with so many people her own age and darted her eyes over towards the right side of the classroom to see two familiar faces. Both Sun-Il and Jee-Han were sitting in their seats and smirking at her while she smiled sweetly back at them and was relieved she had some friends to talk too.

However, that sweet atmosphere began to turn sour as Sung-Ah instinctively felt a hostile presence coming from behind Jee-Han and she looked over his shoulder to find the source. Sitting behind Jee-Han with an unwelcoming glare was a red haired girl who's dislike for Sung-Ah seemed far more personal than the other girls in the classroom as Sung-Ah tilted her head to the side in confusion.

" _Why is she so angry at me? I don't believe I've ever met her before..._ " Sung-Ah really couldn't understand the hostility this strange girl had for her but decided it was something she could just ask later and merely shrugged.

Sun-Il slid out of his desk and whispered over towards Jee-Han. "You feel it too?"

It was obvious what he was talking about as Jee-Han nodded and peaked over his shoulder. "How could I not? I can practically feel her hatred on my back"

Sun-Il laughed. "I sort of pictured this would happen but I really didn't think she'd dislike his daughter to this extent"

"I really don't get it. Shouldn't her grudge against Sung-Gong be over already? What's worse, Sung-Ah hasn't even done anything to Shi-Yun" Jee-Han expressed with a frown.

"Give her some time, even if Sung-Gong paid back his debt of harming her clan, it really doesn't change the fact that a number of her family members almost died because of him"

"...I guess" Jee-Han could sympathize with Shi-Yun's feelings as he scratched the back of his head. It seemed the idea of wishing that Shi-Yun and Sung-Ah becoming friends was still a pipe dream at this moment.

Since there was nothing Jee-Han could do about it, he decided to leave the issue aside and hoped that Shi-Yun would come to forget her grudge against Sung-Gong eventually. In any case, Jee-Han had more pressing matters to think about than some personal grudge Shi-Yun held towards the Hwan Family as he looked away from Sun-Il and noticed the several suspicious eyes now directed at him.

" _...This is becoming a real pain the ass..._ "

Ever since Jee-Han had entered the school this morning, he had been bombarded with students curious to know how he had aced the difficult chemistry test and had beat out even Yuri, the school's top student in that regard. While his peers fully believed that Jee-Han must have studied his ass off, the reality of the situation was that Jee-Han had simply increased his INT and WIS and as a result, he had gained the memorization and intuitive skills needed to ace the test after spending a few hours reviewing the material. Of course, he would never tell anyone outside those who were aware of the Abyss this piece of information but the constant hounding from his peers and uncomfortable praise from the teachers was beginning to unnerve him.

Sighing once again, Jee-Han directed his attention to the fabulous ring that was now attached to his finger and grinned. He firmly believed that the ring was money well spent as he had increased his total mana pool substantially and had much more options to work with now as opposed to several days ago. This wasn't enough however as Jee-Han had plans to make more money and purchase more accessories like the one he had just bought to further increase his mana pool.

"... _I wonder what I can do with the Sage Stone? It says it's a crafting item but what kind of item could I craft to use it with? The_ _Sage's Staff_ _I got is an amazing item but I really don't want to be carrying around a magic staff while I fight. Who do I look like, Harry Potter? Still, I'll need some form of weapon since I can't always rely on martial arts if my opponent can counter that..._ "

It would be ideal if he didn't need to use a weapon at all and could stick with simply using his bare fists for both martial arts and magic casting but that was simply being too unrealistic. The bonuses provided with buying equipment were quite apparent and he would be a fool to not use every advantage he had at his disposal. If he was lucky enough, perhaps he could obtain even better items when he killed higher leveled monsters? The mere idea made Jee-Han's mouth water.

" _Wait a minute... luck? Ah, I almost forgot!_ " Jee-Han quickly remembered that he had promised himself to raise his luck stat to at least fifty yesterday and after searching through the Abyss Auction, he had completely forgotten about it.

He summoned his status window, speaking in a whispered tone so as not to draw any attention to himself and saw that his luck was sitting comfortably at thirty three, the same amount that he had when he raised it yesterday.

" _I have twenty five available stat points so I'd have to use seventeen of them to get it to fifty. Getting it to fifty should provide a bonus just like when I raised my INT and WIS but the problem is, is there a way that my luck can be raised as easily as my physical stats?_ " Jee-Han had already tried raising his luck through normal methods such as flipping coins and playing cards with Sun-Il. In the end, his luck had ended up not increasing in the slightest and he felt that luck was a stat that had specific conditions on how to raise it. He recalled that Sung-Ah's luck stat was at fifty two, the highest luck he had ever seen from a person and a clear indicator that Sung-Ah was an extremely lucky person given her own circumstances of surviving a curse that was destined to kill her. If that's what it took for a normal person to get their luck that high, then what ill fate would have to befall Jee-Han to raise it to the same degree?

The answer to that question wasn't worth answering as Jee-Han shook his head.

" _I guess there's no other way then. Since I can raise my STR, DEX, and VIT easily with just physical training, I'll be putting the rest of my points into INT, WIS, and LUK_ " With his mind made up, Jee-Han proceeded to distribute seventeen of his remaining twenty five stat points into LUK, increasing it to fifty.

 **«DING!»**

 **The skill** 『 **Devil's Luck** 』 **has been created through LUK rising to at least 50!**

『 **Devil's Luck - Passive** 』

 **A skill granted to an individual who is exceptionally lucky, almost to the point of it being the work of the devil himself.**

 **《15 % increase in Critical Rate Damage》**

 **《10 % increase in Critical Rate Chance》**

 **《10 % increase in Rare Item Drops》**

 **《Situations that are dependent on probability will slightly drift in your favor》**

"Boo-yah!" Jee-Han screamed out loud by accident, marveling at the amazing affects of his newly increased LUK stat. It took a few seconds to awaken from his dazed state to slowly look around the classroom and observe both his classmates and the teacher staring at him with baffled looks.

"I'm fully aware of your score on the last test Jee-Han but that's no excuse for you to start clowning around in the middle of class, understood?"

The teacher was none too pleased with Jee-Han's sudden outburst while Sun-Il and Sung-Ah, who had already guessed the reason for Jee-Han's outburst, were holding back a laugh with their hands. A shade of red appeared on Jee-Han's face out of embarrassment as he slowly sat back down in his seat, turning his head to observe Shi-Yun's reaction and felt even more humiliated when he saw her staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Her reaction was the worst because of how lax it was!

" _I've got to seriously stop doing that…_ " Jee-Han noted to himself before his excitement at the new passive skill he had gained made him tremble in his seat. He really wanted to see what kind of drops he could get now that he had artificially tampered with his own luck.

Those thoughts slowly drifted away in Jee-Han's mind as he watched Sung-Ah take her seat near his own at the front of the class. He smiled warmly as he saw that the girl's health looked stable and that the pale and ill girl he had met yesterday was nowhere to be seen. Even if Sung-Gong hadn't given him the gifts that he had requested, Jee-Han felt in his heart that he would have still tried to save Sung-Ah regardless.

There was just something about her that made him want to help her.

" _Well... she is cute... but I shouldn't get ahead of myself. The last thing I'd ever want is to have that guy become my father in law_ "

Any potential ideas of making a move on Sung-Ah were quickly tossed out the window as Sung-Gong's terrifying image floated in Jee-Han's head.

Some things were simply better off not thinking about.

* * *

While Jee-Han was struggling to keep his mind adrift of dealing with Sung-Gong, a figure was seen dashing across several buildings as their silky black hair was blown back against the wind pressure created from their phenomenal speed. If anyone were to watch this young boy moving, they would only be capable of seeing flashes as his movement was so quick that it seemed as if he were teleporting from one spot to another.

His speed didn't decline as his pure violet eyes moved around the city scope, scouting the area as if he was trying to find someone or something.

"... _Where is that blasted school?_ " The boy thought, annoyed that his pursuit hadn't produced the results he had been hoping for.

Suddenly, his eyes spotted something while he was in the air and he flipped his body, landing right on top of a large building that was directly next to a high school. His eyes narrowed as the target he had been searching for all this time had finally revealed itself.

【 **Yeogang Highschool** 】

"So this is the place huh?" His voice held no sense of warmth or happiness, just a blank feeling of nothingness seemed to be what perfectly described his emotions. Reaching up to his ear, the boy pressed a small device that was attached to his left earlobe and spoke.

"Boss, I've located the school"

On the other end, a commanding and deep voice resounded back to him. " _Is that so? Good work Aaron. The preparations on this side have also been progressing smoothly. Have you spotted the target?_ "

Aaron inclined his head as his eyes slowly drifted across the wide field of the school, looking to see if he could spot a certain individual. Aside from the numerous other students going about their days, the one Aaron had been searching for had yet to be found and he lightly sighed.

"I haven't been able to spot him. Most likely, he's still in his class and won't be visible until the school is over"

" _That can't be helped, as long as you make sure that you don't lose him. Report back to me when you've found-_

"Boss"

Krash's voice was stopped abruptly as Aaron had interrupted him, something that lightly displeased the man as he didn't enjoy being interrupted unless it was for a justified reason.

" _...What is it?_ "

"I've found the target"

That was all Aaron needed to say to, Krash who hadn't expected the search for the ability user they were hunting down to have been this quick. Whether it was because of Aaron's exceptional observation skills or due to the target's rather unfortunate luck, Krash wasn't going to complain as he continued to speak.

" _Is he alone?_ "

Aaron shook his head as he watched the brown haired boy inside the classroom with three other individuals. "He has three other people with him, two girls and one boy"

Krash frowned a bit. " _Can you identify them? Perhaps they are members of those martial arts clans that collaborated with the target?_ "

Aaron nodded "Affirmative. The green haired boy and red haired girl both match the descriptions of the members of the Chunbumoon and the Yunhonmoon that assisted the target...but the last one..." For some reason, Aaron seemed to fall into some type of daze as he couldn't take his eyes off of the brown haired girl standing next to Jee-Han.

" _Aaron, what's the problem?_ "

Krash's sudden voice snapped Aaron out of his daze as he shook his head. "N-Nothing, my communicator just froze up a bit. The last girl doesn't seem to be a member of those clans and is probably just one of his classmates"

Though Krash didn't believe Aaron's excuse of his communicator freezing up, as they were among the highest quality of devices made in the Abyss, he decided to ignore it for now. " _Understood. Do not engage the target whilst he is surrounded by those two martial artists. However, if there is an opportunity that has them separated, proceed with the testing phase to get a gauge of his strength_ "

"Roger that" Aaron replied, ending the communication line as his eyes wandered back over to the smiling figure of the brown haired girl next to the target.

"...They...look so similar..." Aaron couldn't help but make the comparison of the girl next to the target to a certain person that he was undeniably close with as his heart slightly ached and he clutched the silver pendant around his neck. This wasn't good, he was becoming sentimental. Aaron shook his head to rid himself of the distracting thoughts and had regained his bearings, believing that any and all distractions would be a hindrance to his assignment.

Just as he was about to take a seat to wait for the best opportunity to strike however, his eyes flickered in surprise when he noticed both the green haired boy and red haired girl leaving the target's side as only the target and the brown haired girl had remained in the classroom.

"Perfect"

A small grin appeared on Aaron's lips as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue cube that radiated an intense amount of energy.

"Seems like a waste to use one of these on a kid just to test his power but the boss' orders are final. I guess he's not taking any chances with an ability user whose power we know nothing about. Well, I won't deny that I'm also interested to see what kind of ability he has"

He then turned back to the figure of the brown haired boy now talking with an unexpected visitor who had just entered the classroom. She had long black hair and looked rather angry as she pointed towards the target but Aaron didn't recognize her as a member of either the Chunbummon or the Yunhonmoon so he decided it was still safe to proceed.

"Let's begin"

* * *

Once classes had finished, the space around Sung-Ah became extremely crowded as she was pestered by all of the male students wanting to get closer to such a beauty. It was the complete opposite of what had occurred when Shi-Yun had transferred, as the flame user was left to her own devices since the moment she came to this school. Sung-Ah on the other hand was having difficulty getting to all of the questions being asked of her, ranging from her favorite color all the way too how long she had been in Seoul for. She politely answered each one with an awkward but sweet smile while the girls all grunted towards her and left the classroom one by one.

Watching this spectacle from afar was Jee-Han and Sun-Il, who were rather impressed by their classmate's tenacity towards Sung-Ah.

"She's become quite the popular idol" Sun-Il joked with an amused grin as he was lying against Jee-Han's desk.

Jee-Han shook his head with a sympathetic smile "Those poor clueless bastards have no idea what kind of man her father is"

Sun-Il snorted "And you do?"

Jee-Han thought about it for a second before sighing. "Yeah you're right, I don't know jack shit about him, aside from the fact that he was willing to do pretty much anything to save his daughter. He still scares the hell out of me though"

"I wouldn't say that I'm scared but... he's not someone I'd ever want to get on the bad side of" Sun-Il admitted with an honest answer.

Jee-Han laughed "Last time I checked, you got your ass handed to him. Bullshit that you're not scared of him"

Sun-Il grunted in annoyance at having Jee-Han bring up his humiliating defeat at Sung-Gong's hands. Didn't this game freak know that the only reason he had tried to fight Sung-Gong despite knowing he'd most likely lose was for his sake?

"Anyway" Jee-Han started, annoying Sun-Il further that his heroic sacrifice was ignored. "Should we do something about those guys? We're under contract to help protect her right? Does that include things like this?"

Sun-Il cupped his chin as he observed the boys still pestering Sung-Ah and shrugged. "Your call. I'm sure it's mainly harmless but if we want to head home and start training again early, it would be better to pull her away now"

"Sounds like a plan" Jee-Han nodded as he walked over towards the group of boys, placing his hand on a smaller male student's shoulder "Alright guys that's enough, you're suffocating her"

The male student reacted instantly as he felt a rather strong sensation on his arm and backed up. "Hey what's the big id- oh, it's just you Jee-Han..." he then glanced at his shoulder and looked back at Jee-Han with a curious gaze "...did you start working out or something?"

A rather odd response if Jee-Han thought so as he raised his eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Huh? Oh no it's just..." The male student then felt the shoulder that Jee-Han had gripped and began rubbing it. "You've got one hell of a grip on you. I never knew you had some hidden muscle on your toothpick body"

" _...The hell's that supposed to mean?_ " Jee-Han felt several angry veins popping up at the top of his head at that subtle insult before letting it go, pondering what he had meant. Jee-Han's strength prior to finding out about the Abyss was around fifteen, while at the moment it was at thirty seven thanks to the training he endured and passives he obtained. That meant that he had at least doubled his strength in less than a month, so it must have been quite a surprise for those with average stats like the guy standing before Jee-Han to feel the strength of someone who was a dweller in the Abyss. Control wasn't Jee-Han's strong suit so he needed to learn how to regulate his power in order to blend in better.

Disregarding those thoughts, Jee-Han merely sighed. "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm the same as always. Anyways, can you give Sung-Ah some room? I don't think she appreciates you guys basically persecuting her"

The man snorted in disgust as he stuck his tongue out at Jee-Han. "You're not her boyfriend so screw off, we're not bothering anyone. Don't think just because you fluked your way to a perfect score that it means you can boss us arou...!?"

He stopped abruptly as he noticed the rather intimidating aura was surrounding the pissed off Jee-Han who narrowed his gaze towards him. What was going on here? What happened to the usually passive and cowardly Jee-Han?

"...uh..w-what I mean is... yea... we'll back off... right guys?"

The others who were around that student also took note of Jee-Han's displeased attitude and scurried off away from Sung-Ah, who sighed in relief at finally being free. Sun-Il, who had watched the exchange, felt a sense of pride wash over him as he had just witnessed Jee-Han's newly acquired confidence and intimidation. The geek probably hadn't realized it but he had subconsciously activated his ki to propel his hostile aura towards those students that had the useful effect of making them wet their pants. The stronger that he became, the more pronounced that aura was destined to become and Sun-Il couldn't wait to see how his best friend would continue to grow.

Sung-Ah had stood up from her seat and bowed slightly towards Jee-Han and the approaching Sun-Il.

"You have my thanks, Han Jee-Han. I know they're all good people but it was becoming quite... uncomfortable"

Jee-Han laughed a bit as he waved his hand. "No sweat, they mean well but they can be quite wild when it comes to new transfer students... especially when they're girls"

Sung-Ah was confused. "Is there a reason for that?"

" _...She doesn't realize it herself?_ " Jee-Han pondered at the innocent young girl in front of him, blinking at him with her big purple eyes as she awaited an answer. It was honestly quite adorable.

"Nah not really, just forget about it" Jee-Han began before pointing to Sun-Il "We'll be walking you home from now on so do you want to leave now?"

"I have no problem with that but..." Sung-Ah paused as her line of vision was directed backwards, causing Jee-Han and Sun-Il to look over their shoulders to see Shi-Yun approaching the group with a hardened expression.

" _...Crap, she still seems pissed off..._ " Jee-Han thought worriedly as Shi-Yun stopped right in between himself and Sung-Ah, ignoring the amused expression on Sun-Il's face.

"You... you're Sung-Gong's daughter?" Shi-Yun said rather coldly towards Sung-Ah, who didn't flinch in the face of Shi-Yun's obviously superior disposition.

"I am. I don't believe we've been acquainted with one another. May I ask why since the moment I entered the classroom you've been glaring at me? I've never met you before in my life so I can't understand why you would hold such hostile feelings towards me"

Jee-Han, Sun-Il, and even Shi-Yun were surprised by Sung-Ah's rather blunt assessment as the woman in question didn't hesitate to pursue Shi-Yun's unfair treatment of her. Jee-Han glanced at Shi-Yun and noticed the redhead finding it difficult to answer Sung-Ah's question while Sun-Il was busy holding in a laugh.

" _Why does this guy always get a kick out of situations like these?_ "

A few seconds passed before Shi-Yun finally decided to answer Sung-Ah's question. "I... don't have any ill feelings towards you... it's just... I've had previous dealings with your father"

" _Dad? What kind of business does she have with my dad?_ " Sung-Ah narrowed her eyes towards Shi-Yun, assessing if her statement held any signs of deceit. Sung-Ah may not have been the strong person that her father was but that didn't mean she was a pushover and anyone who had a problem with her father was someone she of course wanted to confront.

"What sort of dealings do you have with my father?"

Shi-Yun frowned a bit as she scratched her cheek awkwardly; mimicking what Jee-Han had done several times. The red head wasn't sure why but she found it increasingly hard to respond to Sung-Ah as the girl had one of the most direct and straight laced personalities she had met. "W-Well..."

Sung-Ah noticed Shi-Yun's hesitation and came to some sort of realization herself as a look of terror spread across of her face. "D-Don't tell me... my father and you were once in some sort of relationship and he abandoned you?"

"...Hah?"

Shi-Yun's mind didn't quite process what the girl in front of her had just said. What was she talking about?

Sung-Ah covered her mouth as she shook her head with a solemn expression. "Father... how could you. While I was sick in bed, how could you play with this young naive girl and just leave her out to dry. It's too much!"

In the face of what seemed to be some sort of badly scripted soap opera, Shi-Yun felt her face reddening in anger as she tightened her fists. "H-How could you possibly think something like that happened!?"

"It was just a joke" Sung-Ah suddenly said with a straight face.

"..."

Following this exchange, an eruption of laughter could be heard coming from both Jee-Han and Sun-Il who were clutching their guts and failing to contain their amusement. Shi-Yun noticed them laughing at her and erupted into a flame of anger while glaring at them with a look that would petrify anyone who saw it.

Jee-Han immediately stopped laughing while Sun-Il still chuckled from time to time, not fazed by the glare.

"Y-You... do you think this situation is funny?" Shi-Yun asked back at Sung-Ah who was still neutrally looking at her.

"No, I do not believe that this situation is funny in the slightest. However, I've often read in books that in situations like these, changing the mood can help make it easier for peers to speak their minds better"

" _Ah so that's why she did it_ " Jee-Han wondered as he really couldn't believe that Sung-Ah had had just did what she had just done a short while ago. He had almost laughed himself to death at her acting as it just seemed so out of character for someone like Sung-Ah to do something like that.

"Well, how was it?" Sung-Ah asked with sparkling eyes. "Did my acting make it easier for you to talk about what happened?"

"Huh? Well..." Shi-Yun scratched the back of her head and then nodded. "...yes, in fact it did. You are quite... different from your father"

Sung-Ah smiled sweetly. "I'll take that as a compliment"

Shi-Yun took on a more humble approach as she slightly bowed towards Sung-Ah. "Forgive my lack of manners earlier. My name is Kwon Shi-Yun, member of the Yunhonmoon clan"

Sung-Ah was pleased to hear that Shi-Yun was now acting friendlier and also bowed. "I am Hwan Sung-Ah, pleasure to meet you. I do hope you treat me kindly for the semester" she then reached out a handshake towards her classmate.

"...Yes, I'll try my best" Shi-Yun grabbed it firmly, her lips curving into a faint smile. She never would have expected that she'd be on such good terms with Sung-Gong's daughter and had initially planned on holding a grudge against her. It seemed that her plans had taken a completely different direction, not that it was a bad thing.

"Aw, isn't that cute?" Sun-Il off handily mentioned in the background, earning an annoyed glare from Shi-Yun who believed he had ruined the mood.

Jee-Han sighed in relief at the girl's being able to get along and then looked at Sung-Ah. "She's from a martial arts clan in Seoul that's just like the Chunbumoon that this guy is from" he pointed to Sun-Il who merely waived his hand.

Sung-Ah looked rather impressed as her eyebrows steadily rose. "That's amazing... but Jee-Han, I don't understand why would classmate Shi-Yun hate my father? Do you perhaps know?"

Jee-Han glanced over towards Sun-Il who read his thoughts and nodded, giving him the go ahead.

"I don't know all of the specific details but basically what happened was that..." He proceeded to give Sung-Ah a rundown of the events that had transpired over the past week, including Sung-Gong's involvement with both the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon and the unique monster that appeared inside his Illusion Barrier. After he finished explaining the details, a rather downcast look was seen upon Sung-Ah's face.

"So my father was really doing things like that... just to help me..." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"...So you were the reason for Sung-Gong's involvement with those Illusion Barriers... to think he had such a predicament..." The news of Sung-Gong collecting souls to heal Sung-Ah still hadn't reached Shi-Yun's ears until today but she finally had made sense of the situation after hearing it from Jee-Han.

As both girls looked rather uncomfortable after being told of what had really happened, they both collectively nodded and bowed towards one another.

"I'm sorry!" Sung-Ah and Shi-Yun said simultaneously, alerting both Jee-Han and Sun-Il who weren't expecting a double apology.

The two girls looked up at each other with confused looks, with Shi-Yun stepping up first.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"The same could be said about you. You have nothing to apologize for Shi-Yun, my father was completely in the wrong for what he did to your clan" Sung-Ah said earnestly.

"N-No... you do not have to be so formal. Though I am angry that my family was injured, I had no idea that Sung-Gong had such... noble motives... I misjudged his character completely"

Sung-Ah shook her head. "I would never want my father hurting other people, even if it is for my sake. I've already put enough of a burden on him, how could I ask him to add more to his guilt?"

Shi-Yun listened to the words of the humble classmate in front of her and leaked out a sigh of admiration " _...She's incredible... to have been born with such a ill fated curse and still be able to have such a strong will... compared to her, just how pitiful am I?_ "

The depth of hostility that Shi-Yun felt towards Sung-Ah for being Sung-Gong's daughter quickly faded, replaced with a strong admiration for the newly cured girl. However, what interested her more at the moment was hearing how Jee-Han had healed Sung-Ah's deep curse as she turned towards him.

"Is it really true that you were able to dispel her curse? How did you accomplish such a feat?"

In the face of Shi-Yun's questioning glance, Jee-Han was hard pressed to answer as he thought about revealing that he had learned the [Yunhon Soul Recovery]. Would Shi-Yun be mad at him if he said he learned it by accident?

"It was a special ability of his gaming powers" Sun-Il interrupted.

Shi-Yun heard Sun-Il's explanation and sighed in amazement "Your powers are truly incredible, Han Jee-Han"

"Y-Yeah..." Jee-Han thanked Sun-Il in the back of his mind as he gave his best friend thumbs up for the life saver. Sun-Il noticed the gesture and gave one back, conveying with his facial expression that it wasn't a big deal. He was probably going to have to tell Shi-Yun eventually that he had learned one of her clan's techniques but until that time came, keeping it a secret was a much more attractive option.

"You can rest assured Shi-Yun, you can trust in Jee-Han to heal those in your clan who were injured by my father" Sun-Ah proclaimed confidently, showcasing a prideful expression on Jee-Han's behalf. Though she didn't know very much about Jee-Han, she knew that if he was able to cure herself, who was no doubt fated to die, how hard could it possibly be to fix up some injured people?

"...I'll be waiting to see if he can keep that promise" That was all Shi-Yun said before she bowed towards the three of them and started to walk out of the classroom.

"Ah, hold up!" Jee-Han called out to her "Me and Sun-Il are going to be training at the Chunbumoon Dojo later today, do you want to come along this time? I know you weren't up for it yesterday but today should be fine... right?" He was a bit nervous asking this of Shi-Yun, who he knew wasn't all that thrilled to be coming over to a rival clan's dojo.

Shi-Yun stopped before she reached the door and turned around with an awkward expression, as if she had been expecting the invitation but didn't know how to respond to it. She was still under orders from her clan to observe Jee-Han and take note of his powers so going with him would prove to be quite beneficial. At the same time however, her pride at being a member of the Yunhonmoon prevented her from going to the Chunbumoon compound so easily.

"W-Well... I don't think there would be a problem if I accompany you for a short while" She made up her mind and decided to go with it, though she wouldn't plan on staying very long " _He should be satisfied with this much_ "

Jee-Han was as his face brightened and he turned to Sun-Il "Is that cool with you?"

Sun-Il shrugged "Doesn't bother me, let's just hope gramps and the other old farts don't go ballistic"

Sung-Ah now spoke up as she gently grabbed Jee-Han's school sleeve and pulled on it slightly. "Jee-Han, is it alright if I accompany you as well? I promise that I won't get in the way"

Looking at her big bright eyes that were blinking innocently at him, Jee-Han thought that she looked rather cute as a small blush appeared on his face but he turned to Sun-Il to hide his embarrassment. "Well Sun-Il? Would bringing her be a problem?"

Sun-Il cupped his chin and thought about it for a minute before he nodded. "There shouldn't be an issue since we were hired to protect her and bringing her along wouldn't conflict with that. As long as she doesn't stray from us when we're inside the Illusion Barrier, I don't see a problem with it"

With his approval, both Jee-Han's and Sung-Ah's faces lit up as they thanked Sun-Il, causing the green haired boy to faintly blush at the praise. It was a lot more embarrassing being thanked by both of them.

"Now then, should we be going?" Jee-Han voiced out loud as everyone in the room nodded in acceptance, making their way towards the exit of the classroom. Sung-Ah however didn't join them immediately as Jee-Han turned around and noticed she was still at her desk. "What's wrong?"

"I have to collect all of my notebooks" Sung-Ah voiced with a rather peculiar sense of determination. It seemed she cherished the notebooks far more than an ordinary high school student did by the way she was gently packing them. They must have been gifted to her from her father.

Jee-Han amusedly sighed before turning to Sun-Il and Shi-Yun who were at the door. "You guys can go on ahead, we'll catch up in a minute"

"Got it, we'll be waiting for you both at the entrance of the school" Sun-Il responded, leaving the classroom with Shi-Yun who took one final glance at both Jee-Han and Sung-Ah before accompanying Sun-Il.

" _...She's beginning to stare at me a lot more... what's up with that?_ " Jee-Han pondered but shrugged as he wasn't all that interested before turning back to Sung-Ah.

"How were your studies today in class?"

Sung-Ah had finished packing her last note book as she grabbed her bag with both hands and carried it in front. "It was surprisingly easy. I had come to believe that these classes were rather difficult for new students but the material was of no challenge"

" _...Well, when your INT and WIS are that high, what wouldn't be considered easy for you?_ " Jee-Han dryly thought as he watched Sung-Ah blink curiously at his sarcastic stare.

"Anyway, let's get going. The guys are waiting for us at the entra-

"There you are!"

An unfamiliar voice that Jee-Han didn't recognize interrupted him as both he and Sung-Ah turned their heads to the door to see a female student glaring at them. She was a rather pretty girl with straight black hair and a slender build, sporting large pink eyes and delicate facial features. Rated purely on looks, she would score rather high on any sane man's dating list as she radiated a type of mature but stern charm.

"You must be Han Jee-Han, correct?" The girl spoke with a rather cold but not overly hostile tone.

"Yea that's me... and you are?" Jee-Han, who had already gotten used to Shi-Yun's cold demeanor of speaking to others, couldn't be bothered to care about it.

"Hmph, as I expected" The girl sneered "The fact that you don't even know who I am proves that your test was a fluke!" The girl said rather arrogantly as she brushed a strand of her black hair out of her eyes and placed one of her hands on her hips while pointing at the confused Jee-Han.

"...Do you know who she is?" Jee-Han asked Sung-Ah, who gave him the same confused look from earlier.

"Nope. How could I? I just transferred here"

A sound reason that Jee-Han couldn't deny as he nodded in understanding. "Good point"

"Stop ignoring me!" The girl roared furiously as she couldn't believe how rude the two of them were being towards a woman of her stature.

"Huh? Oh sorry about that, would you mind telling us who you are? Maybe I'll remember if I hear you name?"

The girl frowned heavily at his informal tone but took the opportunity to introduce herself properly as she puffed her chest out. "Very well. Listen well you average student, my name is Mae Yuri-Sook and I'm the top ranked student in this school. Now, I'm sure you must have-

"Shouldn't we be going now? Sun-Il and Shi-Yun are both waiting for us" Sung-Ah asked abruptly, ignoring Yuri's presence entirely.

"Yea, we shouldn't be wasting any more time" Jee-Han agreed.

"Knock it off already!" Yuri was almost at the end of her rope as she furiously stomped her feet on the ground with a flustered face. Whatever sort of elegant figure she had before she came into the room was clearly nowhere to be seen.

"What is it now?" Jee-Han lazily responded with an uninterested glance. The moment that Yuri had mentioned who she was, Jee-Han had lost all desire to deal with the rather annoying girl as the impression he had of the attention seeking overachiever was rather negative. If there was one thing he couldn't stand aside from uncooked boiled egg and the Tekken series, it was people like Yuri.

"Y-You... just how did you ace that chemistry test?" Yuri questioned with suspicious eyes as she observed Jee-Han's facial expression for any signs of a change.

" _...Yea I thought that might be what she would want to know... makes sense actually when I think about it. There was no way a competitive girl like her would let the fact that someone like me out shined her. Man, what a pain..._ "

Jee-Han shrugged his shoulders, trying to keep his composure. "Didn't I simply just study for it? What's the big deal that I beat you on one test?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Han Jee-Han. Everyone in this school knows how much of a slacker you are. From what I've dug up of your past grades and attitude over the last year, the chances of you scoring above average on such a difficult test is highly unlikely. And yet suddenly, on one of the hardest tests of the year, you ace it perfectly? You can't honestly be stupid enough to believe that somebody wouldn't call you out on this?"

" _...This bitch.._." Jee-Han's eyebrows twitched in anger in regards to Yuri's ruthless comments. Just who the hell was she to judge someone like that? Just as he was about to step up to say something, Sung-Ah had cut in first.

"Is it so difficult to believe that a classmate of yours could do well on a test?"

Yuri had now taken her eyes off of Jee-Han and turned them towards the unfamiliar student in front of her. Odd, she had never seen this girl before and there was no way a girl with her looks could have gone under the radar for this long.

" _Ah, she must be that new transfer student everyone was talking about today..._ "

After Yuri had figured it out, she snorted at Sung-Ah in mild distaste. "There's nothing odd about a student scoring well on a test. However..." she then pointed towards Jee-Han, who really wanted to grab that finger and rip it off. "There _is_ something to be said about an academic failure like this scoring a perfect score on a test that even I couldn't ace completely. He must have cheated somehow" It was the only thing that made sense to Yuri, her pride at being the best now influencing her judgment.

"... _If this girl was an orc or a zombie, I would have impaled her with one of my javelin's by now..._ " Jee-Han didn't know how long he could restrain himself from lashing out against Yuri. However, that didn't seem to be necessary as Sung-Ah continued to speak.

"Doesn't that just mean that classmate Jee-Han put in more effort to pass that test than you did? What is so suspicious about that?"

"W-Wha..!?" Yuri stuttered as she narrowed her eyes coldly towards the unnerved Sung-Ah who stood there blankly staring at her. More effort? Than she!? Did this girl have any idea how many hours of dedicated studying that she had gone through for this test? If even after all those hours she couldn't ace the test perfectly, how could a slacker like Jee-Han have done what she couldn't?

"Listen you!" Yuri exclaimed with a burning anger in her eyes as she strolled forward a bit. "I've had just about enough of your-!?"

A cold shiver immediately ran down Yuri's back as not just her but also Jee-Han and Sung-Ah noticed a dynamic change in pressure within the classroom, as if the gravity had suddenly increased. The walls turned darker and the air became much colder as the trio gazed confusedly around the room, trying to ascertain just what was happening.

"W-W-What's going on?" Yuri had absolutely no clue as to what was transpiring as her face showed emotions of worry and disbelief.

" _This feeling...!_ " Sung-Ah had felt this presence several times before as she looked towards Jee-Han who nodded at her questioning glance "An Illusion Barrier?"

"Yeah..." Jee-Han agreed, looking at the new notification that had appeared in front of him.

 **You have entered a [Time Sealing Illusion Barrier]!**

" _A forced Illusion Barrier? Here? But why at the school? And just what exactly is a Time Sealing Illusion Barrier?_ " Jee-Han didn't start to panic as he attempted to assess the situation and the first step was to distract the non Abyss dweller "Hey! What's that over there!" He pointed in some random direction, causing Yuri to frantically turn towards that direction. Sung-Ah was about to look too before Jee-Han patted her shoulder and shook his head.

"[ID – Escape]!" Jee-Han called out secretly, trying to break out of the unexpected Illusion Barrier but was met with the outcome that he had feared the most.

 **You cannot escape from this Illusion Barrier.**

"Fuck..." Jee-Han cursed under his breath as he ignored the rather displeased look from Yuri.

"There was nothing there! What are you trying to hide from me!" Yuri didn't have the mental fortitude to calm herself down in this situation as she kept her eyes focused on Jee-Han.

" _Do I have to explain to her what's going on? This is the first time I've been stuck inside an Illusion Barrier with someone who doesn't know about the Abyss... shit, if it was only just Sung-Ah there wouldn't be any problems..._ " Jee-Han continued to think of a way to get through the situation without informing Yuri of the supernatural but those thoughts quickly left his head as his senses picked up an approaching presence nearby.

 **Ding!**

 **You have detected an overwhelming amount of blood lust, causing the skill "Detect Bloodlust" to be created!**

『 **Detect Bloodlust (Passive) Lvl 1 EXP: 0.00 %** 』

 **A skill that detects any bloodlust directed at the user. It is an instinctive skill.**

 **Passive: Detects bloodlust within 30 meters from the user's location. It also alerts the user of its origin.**

A conflicted feeling of both terror and celebration washed over Jee-Han before he swiftly darted his eyes towards the windows as he sensed an immense amount of blood lust approaching fast.

"Hit the deck!" He desperately shouted as he swiftly grabbed Sung-Ah's arm and jumped over towards Yuri, who was stunned by Jee-Han suddenly jumping towards her.

 **CRASH!**

The glass windows were smashed right through as a large figure had crash landed in between all of the desks and chairs. Jee-Han, who had luckily grabbed the girls and got on the floor before they could sustain any damage, slowly rose to his feet and paled at the unbelievable situation in front of his eyes.

"Grrrrr..."

The ferocious sound of a wild animal could be heard coming from the large pile of desks in the center of the classroom as the figure underneath emerged from the rubble and directed its blood lust towards Jee-Han and the two girls.

"This isn't good..." Jee-Han muttered in a solemn tone as Sung-Ah walked closer to Jee-Han, instinctively grabbing his shirt with a soft grip as she gulped nervously towards the towering beast now glaring at its prey,

"Mother of god, what is that thing!?" Yuri yelped in terror as she backed away immediately and would have run straight out of the classroom if it wasn't for her feet being paralyzed to the ground.

The figure that had been glaring down the trio was none other than a large black wolf with crimson red eyes and razor sharp fangs. It was ridiculously big for a wolf, standing close to at least two meters tall and almost reached the ceiling of the classroom.

" _...Just what kind of Illusion Barrier am I in? I've never been attacked at school before..._ " Jee-Han couldn't understand it as he stayed still, daring not to move an inch as the wolf continued to growl towards the trio, slowly drifting its pupils from one target to the other. To the wolf, it didn't matter who it was going eat first as it had already decided that each one of them was going to be its dinner.

Knowing that doing nothing in the current situation would be like signing his own death warrant, Jee-Han immediately used his most trusted skill.

" **Observe**!"

 **«Shadow Wolf»**

 **«Level 41»**

 **HP: 18000 (18000) | MP: 2200 (2200)**

 **STR: 59 | AGI: 98 | VIT: 55 | INT: 20 | WIS: 51 | LUK: 5**

 **«Skills»: Shadow Claw (Active) | Replication (Active) | Shadow Step (Active) | Petrifying Roar (Active) | Hunter's Eye (Passive)**

 **A wolf familiar that was summoned to this world. It is extremely fast and agile and has razor sharp fangs and teeth. The wolf has incredible primal instincts and will chase its prey until it has devoured the unfortunate victim down until the last bone. Despite all this, some would oddly find the wolf quite cute.**

"…I'm not even going to act surprised anymore" Jee-Han was suddenly having the urge to meet Gaia face to face and give her a square punch in the jaw for the irrelevant side comments. In a situation like this, who the hell would find a wolf like this cute?

"…It's kind of cute" Sung-Ah whispered out loud with a faint blush on her cheek as Jee-Han stared at the girl disbelievingly.

" _...You've got to be kidding me…_ " Jee-Han thought Sung-Ah had probably the weirdest tastes of all the girls he had met so far.

"W-What are you guys doing! There's a giant monster in the classroom! Why aren't you guys running!?" Yuri shouted, close to tears as she had finally mustered up the courage to stand on her two feet and was slowly itching towards the door.

"You sure you want to make any sudden moves with that guy over there?" Jee-Han dryly pointed towards the Shadow Wolf that seemed as if it was going to pounce at any second, forcing Yuri to immediately halt her movement and stay put.

"S-So then what should we do!? I… I don't want to die…"

Seeing Yuri acting like a scared high school girl instead of her usual arrogant and in your face prima dona, Jee-Han was inwardly happy and wanted to record the sight of it but knew that it wasn't the time for ideas like that as he focused back on the wolf.

Closely examining its stats, a peculiar piece of information made Jee-Han raise his eyebrows in curiosity " _It says that this thing is a summoned familiar. That means that it's attack on us wasn't just a coincidence… just who would attack us like this? What are their motives?_ "

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts and get his head back in the game, Jee-Han raised both fingers at the wolf and then glanced over towards both Sung-Ah and Yuri "I want you both to make a break for the door when I give the signal"

"W-What?" Yuri repeated with a stupefied look on her face "Don't try to be some sort of hero you idiot! Look at that thing! Do you honestly think you'll survive a second against it!?"

"…Usually, you'd be right but…" Jee-Han didn't feel like explaining what kind of person he was now and merely stated his plan once again "Just do what I say, don't worry I've got this"

"The hell you do! You're just some geeky loser! How could you possibly think that-

"Oh for fuck's sake, just shut the hell up already and move when I tell you too! Got it!?" Jee-Han had reached his limit of dealing with Yuri's consistent blabbering and screamed towards her, making the startled Yuri flinch as whatever she had wanted to say became stuck in her mouth.

There was nothing else that came out from Yuri as she cast her gaze downwards and promptly did as Jee-Han told her without a word. Sung-Ah, who was standing close to Yuri, was highly surprised by Jee-Han's outburst and looked at him with both shock and admiration in her eyes.

"I didn't know you could raise your voice like that" She stated as Jee-Han himself wanted to crawl in a hole and die after he had blown his fuse. He couldn't help it, who wouldn't get pissed off that the girl they were trying to save was constantly belittling you?

"Grrrr…!"

Jee-Han didn't have much time to think more on that matter as he darted his eyes forward and noticed the Shadow Wolf take off towards the three of them as its large mouth opened wide to devour them. It was actually a miracle in itself that it had waited as long as it had.

"Move!" Jee-Han ordered, with Sung-Ah following his command as she grabbed Yuri and ran out of the classroom.

Jee-Han kept his eyes on the wolf as he quickly gathered a substantial amount of mana in both of his fingers and aimed them towards the approaching wolf "Have a taste if this!"

A volley of energy blasts exploded out from Jee-Han's fingers as he activated the『 **Meteor Shot** 』skill, causing the Wolf to be bombarded by the near infinite amount of bullets that pounded its body into the blackboard. Jee-Han kept the rounds going as he didn't let up for a second, watching his mana slowly dwindle while the wolf's body continued to be attacked by the barrage of blasts.

" _Let's not take any chances!_ " Jee-Han mentally thought as he stopped his attack and ran after the girls who had left the classroom. He knew that his attack wouldn't have a large impact against the wolf but it should have done its job to slow it down even if just a bit. The question of why the Wolf hadn't dodged his attack when it had more than enough agility to do so plagued Jee-Han's mind as he turned a corner, catching a glimpse of both Sung-Ah and Yuri running into the second floor's kitchen.

He looked back and saw no signs of the Shadow Wolf following him before running inside the room and closing the door, panting heavily as his heart beat was beginning to accelerate again from the rush of fighting another enemy.

"Shit… I thought I had gotten used to this…" Jee-Han cursed as he believed his willpower and confidence had at least grown somewhat after all the battles he had. Alas, even with all experience he had gained over the past few days, fighting against supernatural monsters still wasn't something his body was going to respond favorably too anytime soon and he just had to deal with it.

"Is the wolf gone?" Sung-Ah asked Jee-Han as she walked over towards him.

Jee-Han shook his head. "There's no way it would be defeated that easily. I bought us some time but we're going to have to think of a plan to get out of here"

Sung-Ah nodded as she cupped her chin. "How do we defeat it…? Hmm…"

Slightly put off by her rather calm nature, Jee-Han brought that subject to light "…You seem pretty relaxed about this whole situation"

"Do I?" Sung-Ah asked innocently as she tilted her head to the side.

"Compare yourself to that train wreck over there and tell me if you think you're not calm" Sung-Ah followed Jee-Han's finger that was pointing to the figure of Yuri clutching both of her shoulders and trembling with tears in her eyes.

"…Isn't she just exaggerating?" Sung-Ah said rather bluntly, amazing Jee-Han at how her mind seemed to work.

"You're a brutal one, you know that?"

Jee-Han said nothing more as he activated his『 **Sensory** 』skill and searched the entire school building. Aside from the three dots he could see in the kitchen, there was one large red dot that was moving across the hallway rather slowly and heading straight for their location. It was rather obvious what that energy was as Jee-Han clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"…It's on its way"

Sung-Ah's eyebrows rose. "You can tell?"

"Yea, it's an ability I picked up not too long ago. Never mind that, I need to get in contact with Sun-Il and Shi-Yun and also get both you and miss loud mouth over there out of here"

Jee-Han reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialling Sun-Il's number but found that the signal was cut off.

"Shit, looks like it's no good. At least we now know that phone connections don't work inside Illusion Barriers"

"That's wrong" Sung-Ah interrupted as Jee-Han shot her a curious look. "Dad has used his cell phone numerous times inside of Illusion Barriers. The one we're in right now though seems to be… different"

"Is that right?" Jee-Han saved that useful piece of information as he then ruffled the back of his short hair and began thinking of a plan. "Since it seems we won't be able to get help from the outside, the only option is to kill that thing"

Sung-Ah nodded in agreement, as if she had already accepted that it would come to this. "We don't have any other choice. I'll help in any way I can, Jee-Han"

"…Are you sure? I mean I know you've been healed and all but…"

"I can help" Sung-Ah stated bluntly, not changing her disposition one bit. She still had yet to pay back Jee-Han for curing her illness and she was going to make it up to him by helping him fight.

" _She's so stubborn…_ " Jee-Han thought as he watched the figure of Sung-Ah stare at him with determined eyes, as if she were some sort of loyal dog trying to assist its owner. Seeing as she clearly was superior to him in both intelligence and knowledge regarding the Abyss, refusing her help would probably be an unwise move as Jee-Han nodded at Sung-Ah's request.

"Alright, we'll take it down together. However, you have to follow all of my instructions no questions asked. The top priority is your safety, alright?"

"Okay!" A smile that would warm the hearts of any highschool boy spread across Sung-Ah's face as she nodded at Jee-Han. Feeling a bit flustered at seeing that heart stopping smile, Jee-Han turned his face away from her and looked back at the door to the kitchen.

"Now then, what plan should we-

"I can't take this anymore! Just what in the world are you two talking about and what's this stuff I hear about you guys fighting that monster!?"

Jee-Han and Sung-Ah abruptly turned their sights towards the frantic Yuri who had gotten over her trembling but still looked visibly unnerved as she walked closer to them.

"Well that's…" Jee-Han hesitated, unclear on what action to take in regards to Yuri being a normal student now trapped inside an Illusion Barrier with him and Sung-Ah. He would prefer not to tell her, not just because he didn't have a good impression of her, but also because he didn't want to get an innocent person involved in this matter. He could still clearly remember the terror he felt when he had been almost killed in his fight against the black slime and would have no doubt died if it wasn't for his gaming powers. Yuri on the other hand had no such convenient powers and if she ended up in a situation like this without Jee-Han there to bail her out, what would be her fate?

Common sense would indicate that it would be certain death.

Yuri abruptly stepped forward and grabbed Jee-Han by his neck collar, shaking him as the desperation in her voice was as plain as day.

"Get me out of this situation! You said you could do something right!? Why aren't you doing anything!?" Yuri continued to berate and yell inside the classroom towards Jee-Han, unaware of the annoyed look on Sung-Ah's face as the girl quietly walked to the closet in the back of the room.

"…You're the one who told me I didn't stand a chance against that thing, but now you want me to fight it? Are you listening to yourself?" Yuri's hypocrisy disgusted Jee-Han and he wanted to do nothing more than just leave the troublesome girl but knew that as much as he loathed her, doing such a thing would be far too cruel.

"Shut up! I-I can't die in a place like this! I just can't! I've spent my whole life being a perfect student so why did things end up like this!? Huh, answer me you loser! Stop hiding things from me and just-

 **WHACK!**

Yuri didn't get the opportunity to berate Jee-Han any further as her body hit the floor with a loud thud as she laid unconscious. Surprised at what just happened, Jee-Han looked over to the side and noticed Sung-Ah standing over Yuri's body with a large steel pan in her hand as she made a displeased expression, one that looked very reminiscent of her mafia like father.

"I'm sorry, but you were being too noisy"

" _….Is she a demon?_ " Even for all of Yuri's annoying blabbering, wasn't that just a bit on the cruel side? Though he wasn't complaining at finally seeing Yuri shut up for once. That said, Jee-Han's impression of Sung-Ah was that of a sweet and caring young girl but in just this one day, he had come to learn that Sung-Ah was probably one of the most stubborn and bravest girls he had ever met in his life. Clearly, Sung-Gong had rubbed off on his daughter much more than he had thought.

Sung-Ah placed the pan on the desk as she pointed to the laid out Yuri while looking at Jee-Han. "We should hide the noisy girl's body until we finish dealing with the cute- I mean, the wolf. Is that acceptable?"

"Y-Yeah, that sounds fine…" Jee-Han saw no reason to refuse Sung-Ah's brutal but effective tactic and picked up Yuri's unconscious body and walked towards the back of the room. He opened the closet and gently steadied her body upwards after laying her back against the shelves, making an apologetic face towards her.

"Sorry about that, we just need you stay quiet for awhile until we're finished"

With that, he closed the closet door and walked back towards Sung-Ah. "Now that she's been taken care of, we should start by leading the wolf away from this floor to keep Yuri safe"

"Should we split up?"

Jee-Han shook his head as he smirked. "Heh, no need. I've already got a method on how to draw the wolf's attention without us having to split up"

Sung-Ah was rather curious on Jee-Han's newfound confidence and tilted her head to the side. "And what might that be?"

"I'm about to show you" Jee-Han proclaimed as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath "Replication!"

In accordance with the skill, a hand was seen reaching out from Jee-Han's body and following suit, a second Jee-Han carefully pulled itself away from the original as Sung-Ah watched the spectacle with sparkling eyes. The sequence only took a few seconds this time as Jee-Han had leveled the skill to level six and so the time needed for the clones to be separated had decreased.

The dummy Jee-Han now stood proudly next to the original with a blank expression as Jee-Han looked back at Sung-Ah and smirked. "What do you think?"

"…Really cool" Sung-Ah said with a light blush as she checked out every inch of the clone's body, as if she was a preschooler at a museum exhibit.

" _…Yea she definitely has weird tastes…_ " Jee-Han thought but ignored that for now and focused on his game plan for defeating the Shadow Wolf. "I've got a plan that might work but it'll take the cooperation of all us to get it done. Are you guys in?"

The dummy Jee-Han clone didn't really have much of a choice in the matter as it continued to look at Jee-han while Sung-Ah nodded her head and brought herself closer to listen to the plan. Having grabbed their attention, Jee-Han grinned as he began to explain the secrets of his plan to the clone and Sung-Ah.

There were still many mysteries that were unclear to Jee-Han, such as the identity of who had summoned the creature and had attacked them or why they were doing so in the first place, but right now, his mind was focused on one task and one task only.

And that was defeating the Shadow Wolf.

* * *

 **A/N: Will Jee-Han ever catch a break? So, another boss encounter for our hero that is getting better at handling these kinds of situations. He won't have Sun-Il or Sae-Young to bail him out this time so he'll need to work with Sung-Ah to the Shadow Wolf. On that matter, Aaron's ability to conjure a familiar must be surprising right? Well there's alot more interesting powers that are going to be revealed with the new Paradise members that'll make the future battles much more enticing to read. Also, Sung-Ah is quickly becoming one of my favorites to write about as I decided to give her personality a bit of a tweak when compared to the rather bland Sung-Ah from the original. You'll be seeing alot more from her.**

 **Just another reminder that all of the stats that you see being raised down below that you don't see in the actual story, those are either from the passives (like the Chunbumoon Spirit and Outer Ki technique) or are being raised by Jee-Han off screen. I can't show him gaining every stat so it's my solution to that problem. In any case, thank you all for the support from your reviews and I'll try and update as fast as I can.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class** : The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Killer of Goblins》  
 **Level** : 30

 **Element** **Affinity** :  
• **Nature** \- 18  
• **Earth** \- 80

 **HP** : 1880/1880  
 **MP** : 3540/3540  
 **SP** : 350/350

 **STR** : 37 (↑3 UP)  
 **VIT** : 44 (↑4 UP)  
 **DEX** : 38 (↑3 UP)  
 **INT** : 70 (↑3 UP)  
 **WIS** : 71 (↑4 UP)  
 **LUK** : 50 (↑17 UP)

 **Equipment** :  
• Azure Ring - (Accessory)

 **Points** : 8  
 **Money** : ₩3,725,006

* * *

 **《Skills》**

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Vine Control (Active) | Lv: 4 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Meteor Shot (Active) | Lv: 4 **«↑1 UP»  
** • Vine Drain (Active) | Lv: 2 **  
**

**Defensive:**  
• Mana Shield (Active) | Lv: 5

 **Support:**  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 6  
• Observe (Active) | Lv: 16  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 14 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 10 **«↑1 UP»**  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 14 **«↑2 UP»**  
• Spirit Channel (Active) | Lv: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) | Lv: MAX  
• Replication (Active) | Lv: 6 **«↑3 UP»**  
• Stone Lotus Style (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Detect Bloodlust (Passive) | Lv: 1 **«NEW»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lv: 10  
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Earth Magic Mastery (Passive & Active) | Lv: MAX

 **Miscellaneous:**  
• ID Create (Active) | Lv: 8 **«↑3 UP»**  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 7 **«↑3 UP»**


	17. (Arc 2) Chapter 17

**A/N: So the battle between Jee-Han and the Shadow Wolf is underway and we'll get to see how Jee-Han will handle this new threat. Let's also not forget Sung-Ah as she too will be instrumental in defeating the Shadow Wolf, but not in the way some of you may think. I finished this chapter a lot quicker than I thought I would mainly because I had a lot of extra time before school started up again.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 17**

"Hoh..."

Whilst seated upon a nearby building, Aaron leaked out a sigh of amazement as he currently observed the battle between his « **Shadow Wolf** » familiar and the target that him and his colleagues were designated to capture, Han Jee-Han. Aaron's orders were rather simple; test the scope of Jee-Han's abilities after isolating him from those pesky martial artists. Since Jackal's information regarding what kind of powers he possessed were extremely vague, Krash had designated Aaron with the role of using whatever method he deemed necessary to draw out Jee-Han's skills without revealing himself. As such, here they were now as Aaron had called forth one of his favorite summons to play with the startled newbie. He had to admit though, that spell Jee-Han had used moments ago was a rather impressive attack as he hummed in interest.

"He's got pretty good control over his mana. Is that a product of his unknown ability or just his natural skill?"

Aaron pondered that question in his head as he didn't take his eyes off of Jee-Han for a second. Gathering information without actually exposing himself would be a simple matter as he had the power to share his vision with his familiar and could view the battle from a distance, as long as his familiar wasn't killed or had its eyesight disrupted.

When Jee-Han and the two girls that were with him had escaped the classroom and left his wolf buried underneath the desks, Aaron had purposely kept his wolf stationary so as to let the trio escape and hide within the school. There was no way they could leave his « **Time Sealing Illusion Barrier** » and they weren't going to receive reinforcements anytime soon from Jee-Han's little buddies so there was no need to pursue them relentlessly. Taking his time and carefully observing the brown haired boy was his absolute priority and putting him in a hopeless situation like this was the best opportunity to see what he was capable of.

That said, Aaron felt as if he had given enough time for Jee-Han to think of a strategy and immediately commanded his wolf to begin pursuing them. As he did so, the look in his eyes changed into that of a fierce predator hunting its prey and the corners of his mouth curled into a rather terrifying smile.

"Let the hunt begin"

* * *

The figure of a large black wolf was seen dashing across the hallways as several doors and windows were broken by the sheer pressure of the wind generated from its gigantic body. Its ferocious crimson eyes showed all the signs of a fearless carnivore as the blood lust coming from the summoned creature was unmistakable. Passing a corner, the Shadow Wolf immediately noticed the one who had attacked it earlier standing at the end of the hall; the boy called Jee-Han. It thunderously roared towards the unfazed boy who proceeded to stick his tongue at the surprised beast.

"Grrrr...!" A growl came from the snarling monstrosity as it dug it's claws deep into the ground and curled it's body before leaping forward, its right claw raised into the air in order to rip Jee-Han to shreds. Swiping forward, the wolf narrowly missed Jee-Han's neck as the boy swiftly dodged the strike and took off in the opposite direction, making the wolf give chase through the narrow halls. With frightening speed, the wolf was easily able to trace Jee-Han's trail as it followed Jee-Han into a nearby stairway that would lead to the bottom floor.

Unlike Jee-Han however who had to run frantically through each group of stairs, the Shadow wolf simply jumped from wall to wall downwards as it cut off the startled Jee-Han and attempted to bite him. Unfortunately, Jee-Han wasn't able to dodge this one as the wolf landed its claws against Jee-Han's back as he screamed in agony, three large scar wounds now present on his back. However, what was extremely odd was that instead of blood dripping from his back, a few piece of dirt had instead fallen from Jee-Han's back that surprised both the Shadow Wolf and the observing Aaron.

" _What the hell?_ " Aaron was certainly stupefied as to why a living human bled rocks instead of blood but regained his focus when he saw Jee-Han continue to sprint away from the wolf, those injuries now slowing down in the slightest. He was impressed as clearly, the kid had high pain tolerance as these wounds should have reduced his mobility but his speed hadn't dropped. In any case, he had to keep pursuing him as Aaron commanded his wolf to follow the boy through the stairs that led into another hallway.

" _…Just what are you up to?_ " Aaron thought confusedly as he continued to observe his wolf chasing down Jee-Han throughout the school. Despite starting out strong, Jee-Han was now running with his tail between his legs and Aaron couldn't fathom why he hadn't attacked attempted another attack since that time in the classroom.

"Could he leading me into a trap? It's only been a few minutes since I let him escape, was that really enough time for him to come up with a plan? Not to mention, where are those other two girls? Something isn't adding up here… I'll need to be on my guard" Aaron ordered the wolf through mental commands to be on the lookout for any traps or the two girls that were with Jee-Han that weren't in sight and continued the pursuit.

Passing another corner, the fleeing Jee-Han saw the upcoming door that led to the gymnasium and accelerated his speed towards it, surprising both the Shadow Wolf and Aaron.

"Ah, so that's what he was aiming for. If he planned to set a trap, it'll definitely be in there " Aaron let out a smug sneer at Jee-Han's simple minded plan, ordering his wolf to continue the chase but do so more discretely as the wolf slowed its pace down. Whatever Jee-Han was planning, Aaron wasn't about to let it happen without a fight and prepared himself for the worst.

The inside of the gymnasium was quite spacious as there were several pieces of sports equipment lying around the wide area. As the wolf slowly entered the large gym, its eyes drifted around to find its fleeing pray and located Jee-Han standing in the center of the gymnasium with an arrogant expression on his face.

"I won't be running any longer, this is where we'll finish things" Jee-Han spoke as he pounded his palm with an open fist.

" _...Is this guy an idiot?_ "

Aaron looked at it from every angle but couldn't understand just what Jee-Han was trying to do. While believing the gymnasium to be where Jee-Han had planted some traps or hidden his other friends, there was nobody else here and no places to hide behind. If his plan was to bring the Wolf here just to fight in an open space one on one, had Aaron overestimated Jee-Han's tactful mind? Could it be that he was just simply nothing more than a fool?

Aaron shook his head. "No, he must be hiding something. There's no way an idiot could defeat a C ranked Illusion monster. You won't be able to fool me that easily" Aaron wasn't going to fall for whatever Jee-Han had planned as the Shadow Wolf roared loudly and charged towards the boy with terrifying speed. Jee-Han reacted immediately by placing his hand on the ground, causing several earth spikes to shoot out from the ground towards the Shadow Wolf.

Dodging the spikes, the Shadow Wolf rolled its body in midair and charged back at Jee-Han with both its claws raised into the air. A transparent shield was then materialized by Jee-Han after activating『 **Mana Shield** 』that collided with the wolf's claws. The shield's barrier was broken right into but Jee-Han stepped back in time and narrowly avoided having his body shredded by the razor sharp claws.

Jee-Han didn't have long to catch a breather however as the Shadow Wolf was right on his tail and leaped towards him, attempting to bite him with its sharp fangs. Jee-Han used both his arms to repel the wolf by holding its nose and jaw but was visibly struggling as he groaned in frustration, the wolf's sheer weight and power almost being too much for him to handle. He winced as he could feel it's hot breath over his face but didn't let it distract him as he followed up by stomping his feet on the ground, causing a pillar of earth to erupt from the ground and nail the Shadow Wolf right in its stomach. Its gigantic body was catapulted upwards but it recovered from the shock and stuck to the ceiling as it's growled towards the grounded Jee-Han who was panting heavily, clear fatigue present on his face.

"So he's a proficient user of Earth Magic huh? That must mean that he is more gifted towards being a spell caster than a close range fighter…" Aaron skillfully noted as he continued to record the events of the battle. In his time as a Cleaner, Aaron had fought against numerous high school students the same age as Jee-Han who had awakened powers that were very similar to what Jee-Han was currently using. However, each and every single one of them was utterly incompetent in using their powers and was captured without much trouble at all. Jee-Han on the other hand had already proven that he was a rather tricky and formidable adversary that had surprises left and right. Aaron's curiosity towards what exactly Jee-Han's powers were continued to rise as he ordered his wolf to turn up the intensity a bit.

Following his command, the Shadow Wolf fell from the ceiling and landed back on the ground with a large thud that shook the entire gymnasium. As it glared down Jee-Jan who took a stance out of reflex, the wolf began growling in an amused sort of manner before it opened its mouth wide.

"GRRRRRRRR!"

An earth shattering roar erupted from the Shadow Wolf as Jee-Han desperately tried to cover his ears but couldn't stop the stinging pain in his head as his body began to tremble from the pressure. Immediately afterwards, Jee-Han's face paled as he tried to move his body but was unable to do so and was stuck in that same position while the wolf slowly walked towards him. The skill that was used could only have been『 **Petrifying Roar** 』as its effect of petrifying the enemy and stealing their ability to move was as clear as daylight.

"You won't be moving for a while" Aaron mused as he watched his wolf steadily move towards Jee-Han and sighed. " _I guess that's it. I thought he might come up with something but it looks like I overestimated him_ "

Aaron's assessment of Jee-Han had definitely fallen but there was still something plaguing his mind. Aside from the fancy mana attacks earlier and the Earth Magic, were these really the abilities that were strong enough to defeat a C-Class monster? Impossible, a monster of that class could not fall so easily to such attacks if even his Shadow Wolf, a D-Class monster could deal with it. Not to mention, what was up with him bleeding rocks instead of blood? Aaron's instincts told him that the key to figuring out why he feeling so anxious had something to do with that.

"...Perhaps the data we received was wrong and instead of him defeating it, it was those martial artists that actually did it" That was the only realistic solution that Aaron could come up with as he made a mental note to punch Jackal in his stupid clown face the next time he saw him for giving Paradise invalid info.

"Well, whatever let's finish this up" Aaron commanded his wolf to strangle Jee-Han's body and incapacitate him. Obviously, killing him was out of the question so the only way to capture the target without critical injury would be to knock him unconscious.

The Wolf had finally made it to the petrified body of Jee-Han who looked frustrated at his current predicament. It was a different look the Wolf had seen from many of its opponents who usually showcased looks of absolute terror and panic in the face of such a powerful monster standing in front of them. The question of why Jee-Han wasn't doing the same made the Wolf curious but in the end, it wouldn't matter soon anyway since he would be captured and sold off.

Before the wolf could wrap itself around Jee-Han however, its primal instincts immediately felt something was wrong as it tried to back away from his body. Unfortunately, it was a second too late however as a wide smile formed on Jee-Han's face as his body then began to inflate itself like a balloon before he exploded, causing several sharp rock fragments to embed themselves into the Shadow's Wolf's large body. Its arms, legs, tail, and even its sides; every part of its body was impaled as it roared in anguish and slowly tried to shake off the undeniable pain, several drips of its blood now having stained the gym's floor.

"What?! How did he...?" Aaron was taken completely off guard by what just happened as he saw the only thing left of Jee-Han's previous body were the scattered rock pieces. What kind of skill was that? Had Jee-Han turned himself into stone and committed suicide by self-destructing? Was he really that desperate?

The Shadow Wolf shared its master's thoughts as it hadn't expected a move like that and was only able to escape with this much damage thanks to its impressive instinctual nature.

Aaron wasn't pleased by how the situation had turned out as he clicked his tongue and thought of what to do next as he was preparing to call off his wolf but stopped when both he and his wolf felt an ominous presence underneath the ground.

"It was a trap, move!" Aaron commanded quickly as the wolf narrowly dodged a perfectly timed Earth Spike that had erupted from underneath the wolf's feet. The Wolf spun and landed back on the ground a few feet from where the Earth Spike had been created with a hostile but wincing gaze as the sharp pain from the embedded rocks was distracting it.

"Damn, that was a close one. What's up with all these monsters having these cheaty like instincts?"

That nagging voice alerted the wolf as the ground near the earth spike began to morph and from it, a brown haired boy emerged with a displeased frown.

Understandably, this sent both the Shadow Wolf and Aaron into a spiral of confusion as they were fairly certain they had just seen the boy blow himself up not that long ago.

A daunting realization then just occurred to Aaron as he had begun to piece together the entirety of Jee-Han's plan. " _Of course! The guy we were chasing all along was actually an Earth Clone while the real one was hiding underneath the ground until the right moment presented itself to strike_ " Aaron was practically seething as he clenched fists together and pounded the ground beneath his feet. "Damn it! How the hell can a kid who hasn't even been an ability user for longer than a month use such an advanced skill?"

It was definitely a surprise for Aaron, who never could have imagined that Jee-han's mastery of Earth Magic had been as thorough as what he was currently showing. Even more so, he was impressed with Jee-Han's cunning tactic of hiding underneath the ground and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike when the Wolf had let its guard down. It wasn't normal; no high school kid should have been this calm and calculating in the face of such danger. Just who exactly was this guy?

" _So he's not as stupid as I thought he was_. _Heh, good. It'd be a shame if he was caught that easily…_ " Aaron was somewhat glad as he didn't want to face his boss by telling him that the target had committed suicide. That surely would not go over well with him. A rather unsettling grin began to form over Aaron's lips as the idea of seeing more of Jee-Han's fascinating abilities was making him beyond excited.

"...It looks like Plan A didn't work out as well as I had hoped. Looks like I'll have to go with Plan B this time" In response to Aaron's will, the Shadow Wolf howled loudly as its body then began to be enshrouded in a faint black aura, putting Jee-Han on guard as he took a few steps back just in case.

" _What's it doing? I got a look at its skills earlier and the only ones that I can think of that it would use at a time like this would either be Petrifying Roar, Shadow Step, or Replication. He's already used the first one so I can rule that out but the other two are still a problem, especially if it ends up being Replication. Please let it not be Replication…_ " Jee-Han already had that skill so he knew all about how troublesome it was to deal with.

Thankfully, the Shadow Wolf's body then began to sink into the ground, completely vanishing from Jee-Han' sights as Jee-Han then concluded that『 **Shadow Step** 』was the skill that it was using.

" _At least it wasn't Replication_ " Jee-Han sighed in his heart but still kept on guard as his eyes wandered all over the gym, a few drops of sweat falling from his forehead due to the tension. It was beginning to unnerve him at how terrifying it was to not know where his enemy was and just wait for them to make the first move.

Aaron noted Jee-Han's frantic expression and chuckled; this was just too easy.

"Grrr!" The Shadow Wolf then suddenly jumped out of the ground right behind Jee-Han as he tried to react but was a step too slow and the wolf sunk its fangs deeply into his shoulder. An agonizing scream came from Jee-Han's mouth as he winced heavily at the searing pain but steeled himself through it as he threw a fist at the gnawing wolf. Unfortunately, his fist didn't connect as the wolf let go of his shoulder and jumped right back into its shadow that hid itself within the ground again as Jee-Han fell on one knee and held his shoulder.

"Shit…" He cursed under his breath as he glanced at his HP bar and saw that he had taken a sizeable amount of damage, far more than he had anticipated. Thanks to his gaming body, the pain in his shoulder was no longer there anymore but that didn't erase the excruciating pain that he had felt in his left shoulder when the wolf had _first_ dug into it like it was a soft bean paste. The pain was so overwhelming at first that he almost felt like he was going to pass out but knew he would have been screwed if he had, mustering up every ounce of his will to stay conscious.

Jee-Han knew the battles that were going to happen were going to be rough but he didn't expect this degree of danger so soon, especially after the entire Troll Zombie fiasco. What made it worse was that unlike with his battle against the Troll Zombie and Goblin Marauder, there was no one he could rely on if the situation became too much to handle He was all alone. One of the girls he was stuck in here with wasn't a combatant in the slightest and had just recovered from a fatal illness, while the other was an overbearing diva that was knocked out cold by a frying pan. It wasn't exactly an all-star roster he was working with as a pitiful chuckle escaped his lips.

Nonetheless, he pulled himself together and stood back on his feet, taking a deep breath as he tried looking for the wolf that was submerged in its shadow under the ground. In a situation like this, remaining calm was a crucial lesson that Sun-Il had taught him and he needed to stay completely focused on finding the enemy.

"That wound should be causing him immense pain but he looks fine…" Aaron was slightly alarmed by Jee-Han's quick recovery as he was expecting the damage he sustained to keep him from thinking clearly. Still, this didn't change much of anything as he commanded his wolf to strike once again.

Again and again, the Shadow Wolf appeared and reappeared around Jee-Han's body, slowly scarring and scratching from top to bottom as the boy endured the pain and continued trying to concentrate. If he was going to defeat this monster, he was going to have to be prepared to risk his life and withstand some pain. It was actually thanks to the Chunbumoon passives that he had activated that the damage he was taking was significantly lowered, otherwise he was sure his HP bar would have been emptied by now.

Jee-Han's patience was beginning to pay off as his passive skill known as『 **Sensory** 』was finally starting to show the wolf's exact location but due to its superior speed, knowing where it was going to pop up would be futile without the reaction speed to counter it. If he could only distract it for a second or two after it reappeared, he definitely knew he could defeat it once and for all as the wolf continued to scratch away at Jee-Han's health and body, his once clean school uniform now ripped to shreds.

"This isn't making any sense, how is he able to endure this much?" Aaron couldn't understand how Jee-Han was still standing on his feet, not showing the slightest bit of pain as his wolf had left claw marks all over his body. First the mastery over earth magic, the clone, and now the ridiculous ability to endure such pain? What kind of ridiculous ability did this kid possess?

"No, this should be counted as a good thing. If we had gone after him without knowing all of this information, we might have had a serious problem" Aaron concluded, trying to make a positive out of the unexpected predicament he was in. In order to draw out more of Jee-Han's hidden abilities, Aaron realized that he was going to have to turn up the danger even more as the shadow wolf's eyes gleamed with ferocity and approached the idle Jee-Han. As the gap between them shortened, one of the Shadow Wolf's claws had become surrounded in a faint aura of shadows, an indication that it was going to use the『 **Shadow Claw** 』skill.

"Let's see if he can endure this skill. Do it"

Ready to attack, the Shadow Wolf pounced and appeared on the left side of Jee-Han's body with its shadow claw and mouth wide open as it was mere moments away from landing a no doubt fatal attack against the prey it had been stalking. Jee-Han of course saw the wolf approaching but didn't have enough speed to react in time to the attack and just as it seemed likely that his chest was going to be impaled by its claw, an unexpected flash of light landed directly on the Shadow Wolf, blinding the beast as it narrowly missed Jee-Han's chest.

"What!?" Aaron shouted, dumbfounded as to what had just happened as he followed the lights trajectory to the second floor of the gym and saw none other than one of the girls that was originally with Jee-Han aiming a large projector right at the Shadow Wolf.

"It's her! The one who looks like..." Aaron trailed off as his past memories were clouding his thoughts before he shook his head and tried to focus again. "So she was hiding in the gym the entire time and waiting for the right time to strike" Aaron was both surprised and impressed as he pegged the two girls tagging along with Jee-Han as nothing more than useless baggage that had no business being involved but this girl clearly had balls to pull a stunt like that.

" _Sung-Ah!_ " Jee-Han also noticed her presence and was surprised to see her there when he had instructed her to remain hidden until after he had defeated the wolf. She had already done her part by opening up the gymnasium and spreading the sports equipment around to make sure the wolf didn't notice the broken ground where he had hidden underneath. However, despite being annoyed that she had come out of hiding and disobeyed his order, he was more than glad for her assistance as he thanked her from the bottom of his heart and proceeded to glare at the Shadow Wolf.

"Time for some pay back!" He screamed as he pointed both of his fingers at the temporarily blinded Shadow Wolf and released his 『 **Meteor Shot** 』; double finger style. The endless stream of mana blasts sent the Shadow Wolf spiraling backwards as it slammed right into the gymnasium wall and continued to be pummeled by Jee-Han's never ending attack.

Once he saw that his mana was nearly half empty, Jee-Han released the skill and then raised his hand into the air, gathering a surge of mana within the palm of his hand as the shape of a Javelin began to form. Unlike the [Blazing Spiral Javelin] that required nearly ten seconds to cast, the basic [Spiral Javelin] only needed half that time as Jee-Han finished the casting of the spell and saw that the wolf's HP was small enough that one final move would finish it for good. Taking aim, he launched the Javelin forward and it impaled the wolf right in its stomach, causing the beast to growl loudly in anguish before it whimpered a bit and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a few item drops per usual.

Aaron's mental link with the wolf was immediately cut off, along with his view of inside the gym as he remained motionless, sitting on the edge of a nearby building. It was hard to describe what kind of emotions was going through his head but one thing was definitely clear to him after having fought against the mysterious Jee-Han; he was unquestionably worth the trip here.

Standing up, a small smile rose from Aaron's lips as he had gathered enough information on Jee-Han's abilities to make a productive report to his boss and just before he was about to undo the seal on his Illusion Barrier, the face of the girl that had been instrumental in Jee-Han's victory appeared in his mind. He knew exactly what was bothering him and why he kept thinking about her but didn't want it to distract him from his mission as he clutched the amulet around his neck and squeezed it.

"Sis…"

That was the only thing he said before he vanished into thin air, the seal on his Illusion Barrier lifting as he had finally left the area.

* * *

"It's finally over…" Jee-Han breathed a heavy sigh of relief and fell to the ground as he had finally defeated the Shadow Wolf, thanks to Sung-Ah's help of course.

 **«You have gained 31,128 experience!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

Jee-Han would usually be jumping for joy at having gained a few more levels but he was far too mentally exhausted to really care much about it as he panted a few more times on the ground. His body, while being game-like and capable of ridding fatigue rather easily, wasn't able to remove the stress of his mind that plagued his body whenever he encountered powerful monsters such as the Shadow Wolf.

"Jee-Han!"

That alarming voice came from Sung-Ah who, after witnessing the wolf disappear into thick smoke, quickly made her way back to the lower ground and ran up to Jee-Han, tending to his side with a worried expression on her face.

"H-How are you feeling? Is there anything I can do to help?" She pleaded with a sincere but also scared tone, unaware of Jee-Han's ability to ignore the pain of the damage he suffered because of his gamer body. If she were just to judge on Jee-Han's physical status, his body had claw marks all over it and his clothes were shredded, indicating that he must have been in some deep pain. The thought of the person who had saved both herself and her father dying in front of her was a nightmare she didn't want to ever experience.

Jee-Han was a bit embarrassed by Sung-Ah's close proximity and worry for him as he scratched his cheek. "I-I'm fine. Thanks to my powers, I don't feel any of the pain anymore. Forget about me, what about you? Just where did you get the idea to do something crazy like that?"

Sung-Ah wasn't completely sold on him being fine but if he said it was alright, then she just had to trust him. "I saw that you were in trouble and I thought that you needed a distraction and so I remembered that the gym had a light projector up there" She pointed to the second floor. "I secretly climbed up there and waited for the right moment to use it" A sorrowful expression then formed on her face as she bowed towards him. "I'm sorry; I know I should have assisted you sooner. I was.. I was just scared that I might make things worse for you if I made a move too soon. Please forgive me!"

"...Eh?"

Did Jee-Han just hear that right? She was more concerned about causing trouble for him instead of the idea of exposing herself and being eaten by the man eating monstrosity on the loose? How did this girl's brain function properly with that kind of mindset?

"D-Don't worry about something like that. I'd be the one in huge trouble if anything were to happen to you when your dad wasn't here so next time, please stay hidden and not expose yourself to danger like that. For me, okay?" Jee-Han was grateful for her help but he didn't want to risk any sort of danger to Sung-Ah, especially now that he knew how selfless the girl was.

Sung-Ah understood Jee-Han's intentions clearly and nodded vigorously, an anxious look now forming on her face. "Yes, I understand. Next time, I'll make sure to help you in a way so that I won't draw any attention to myself" She seemed fired up for some reason as Jee-Han looked at her with a puzzled face.

" _...I don't think she understands what I'm trying to say at all…_ " He thought dryly. He then stood up and reached into his inventory, bringing out several『 **Low Grade - Recovery Potions** 』and downed the bottles, eventually restoring his health to maximum. As he did so, the wounds and scars around his body soon vanished, leaving Sung-Ah mesmerized at the spectacle.

"Amazing… so those are healing potions? I've seen my dad take out a few of those but I've never a person use them before" Sung-Ah may have known about the Abyss but her knowledge was still heavily lacking and in a way, she could still be labeled as a novice.

"Yeah, their great" Jee-Han widely grinned. "They taste like strawberries and don't cost a dime as I can get them as drops whenever I kill a monster" He then looked at the remains of the Shadow Wolf and pointed at the loot. "Just like that over there"

Sung-Ah followed his hand and sure enough, there were several bottles of red potions laying on the ground right next to what appeared to be a small fang, a black book, and a stack of cash. She blinked, before her mouth widened slightly and she looked back at him in disbelief.

"No way"

Jee-Han smirked. "Way"

They both quickly made their way towards the drops and Jee-Han grinned happily at seeing the spoils he had been gifted after that troublesome battle he had just been in. Five recovery potions, a black skill book, a small fang, and several stacks of hard cash were his prize. Clearly, increasing his luck and gaining that new passive had paid off.

Sung-Ah's thoughts were completely from Jee-Han's as what was plaguing her mind was how beings that existed within an Illusion Barrier could drop items as if it was a game. Did Jee-Han's powers really transcend Gaia's principle rule? If so, then she was now beginning to grasp why her father had taken such a liking towards him, outside of Jee-Han saving his life, and that being in a good relationship with him would be quite beneficial.

Jee-Han bent down and stored the recovery potions within his inventory along with stack of cash that contained seven hundred thousand won. It didn't raise his total amount by much but hey, money was money.

The next item was the black skill book that had an illustrated picture of what appeared to be the same wolf that he had just fought and killed jumping into its own shadow. When Jee-Han observed the book, his mouth curved into a creepy smile as there was no doubt that this book was the『 **Shadow Step** 』skill.

« **Ding!»**

 **You've obtained the skill book** 『 **Shadow Step** 』!

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

"Is that... a skill book?" Sung-Ah asked hesitantly as she crouched down and looked at the book in Jee-Han's hands.

"You bet it is" Jee-Han nodded and didn't waste any more time before confirming the notification, causing the book to evaporate and transfer its knowledge directly into Jee-Han's mind.

『 **Shadow Step (Active) | Lvl 1 EXP: 0.00 % | MP:100** 』

 **A darkness attribute movement skill used by the Shadow Wolf to dive within its own shadow to either escape from harm or sneak up onto its enemies. It grants the ability to pass through your own shadow for a set period of time.**

 **Duration: 5 Seconds**

 **New Status, "Darkness Element Affinity" has been created.**

 **You have gained 10 points towards the Darkness Element for learning a Darkness based skill.**

"Alright!" Jee-Han pumped his fist triumphantly at having gained quite a new useful skill to help further his survivability. Not to mention, he had just obtained a new elemental affinity and could use it to make a new type of clone. Speaking of clones, Jee-Han had discovered a nifty ability his clones possessed that allowed him to self-destruct them whenever he pleased. It wouldn't have been such a big deal before but since his Earth Affinity had been so high, Jee-Han discovered that his element clones could produce certain effects after self-destructing, which is what he had used to impale the Shadow Wolf off before with his shattered Earth Clone. It looked like all those hours of practicing this morning had paid off handsomely.

Focusing back on the new skill he had gained, Jee-Han was itching to test it out but withheld his curiosity for now in order to finish collecting the rest of the loot. There would be plenty of time afterwards.

The last item that had dropped was much more interesting to him as he picked up the small fang and did his thing.

"Observe"

 **Wolf Fang**

 **Rank: Rare**

 **A tooth belonging to the Shadow Wolf familiar. It can be used as a raw material for many different crafting items.**

"Not exactly what I was hoping for but I guess this could be useful" Jee-Han relented as he squinted his eyes at the fang, trying to see if there was anything special about. Alas, it was just a normal wolf fang and Jee-Han had to accept that his improved luck didn't always provide the best gifts. Well, it wasn't a total loss as perhaps it would be useful when he started to learn how to craft his own items.

"May I see it, Jee-Han?" Sung-Ah asked impatiently as her eyes sparkled and she looked very eager to touch it.

Shrugging, Jee-Han placed the fang in her hand. "Knock yourself out"

While Sung-Ah was busy gushing over the fang, Jee-Han felt a disturbance in the air as the Illusion Barrier's presence began to fade. Wanting to confirm this, Jee-Han activated his『 **I.D Escape** 』skill but since the skill had failed, he knew for sure that the Illusion Barrier had been lifted.

"...I guess the question I should be asking now is who was the one that summoned that creature and for what purpose?" There were a lot of things on Jee-Han's mind but for the moment, reporting this incident to Sun-Il and the rest of the Chunbumoon would be the wisest choice of action.

"Wait, how long has it been since we've been in here? Sun-Il and Shi-Yun must be worried about why we're taking so long, right?" Jee-Han was inclined to believe so but remembered that the Illusion Barrier that had been cast was known as a "Time Sealing Barrier" that judging by the name, should have sealed time within the boundaries of the designated area. Taking his phone out, Jee-Han glanced at the time, a nervous sweat falling from his face when he saw that his prediction had been right as only a few seconds had passed from the moment that he was in the classroom with Sung-Ah and Yuri.

"I knew there were time dilation barriers but to think that there was one that could completely stop time from the outside world…" It was another thing that Jee-Han wondered if he could obtain as well if he raised his『 **I.D Create** 』skill but that was a matter for another time as he informed Sung-Ah that they were leaving.

"What about the noisy girl that you stuffed in the closet?" Sung-Ah bluntly pointed out.

"Ah" Jee-Han remembered with an unpleasant expression. "I guess it'd be too cruel to just leave her there huh?" Even though he _really_ wanted too. "We'll swing by upstairs and pick her up before we go meet up with the others"

Sung-Ah didn't care much for Yuri but she followed Jee-Han's instructions nonetheless, nodding her head obediently as if she were a loyal dog. "Okay"

After having grabbed the lifeless corpse of Yuri from the closet and throwing her on his back, Jee-Han and Sung-Ah both left the inside of the school and met up with Sun-Il and Shi-Yun, who were obviously beyond puzzled as to why Jee-Han's clothes were ripped and why there was a girl strapped to his back.

"Wow Jee-Han, I knew you were into some kinky stuff but this is…" Sun-Il joked with a surprised look. It had only been a minute or so since they last saw each other; just what exactly was Jee-Han doing in there?

"What is the meaning of this?" Shi-Yun half demanded as she was hoping for an explanation on why the boy standing in front of her was carrying a girl with a shredded uniform.

"Look guys, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for-why the hell are you staring at me like that!? You were just there with me!" Jee-Han retorted towards Sung-Ah who was also giving him a look of disapproval. He knew that she was trying to fit in with the group as the newest member but was this really the time?

Sighing deeply, Jee-Han wasn't in the mood for dealing with their stupid jokes as he briskly walked past Sun-Il and Shi-Yun while carrying Yuri and turned his head. "I'm taking her to Sung-Ah's hospital since I don't know where she lives. I'll explain everything to you jokers after that"

Seeing that Jee-Han wasn't goofing around as usual, Sun-Il and Shi-Yun traded a quick glance between each other and followed him, along with Sung-Ah as they intended to get to the bottom of what had transpired inside of the school.

* * *

Once they had arrived back at the hospital, Jee-Han and the others made their way to the top floor and entered Sung-Ah's reserved room, throwing the unconscious body of Yuri onto the bed without any form of gentleness. Because the hospital was still under the assumption that Sung-Ah was still ridden with a disease despite her complexion and health saying otherwise, she was allowed to attend school on a regular basis while still keeping her room.

Opening the door to step outside, they all left the room to discuss the matter's involving the Abyss in the empty hallway as Jee-Han sat down on the public chair, throwing his arm through the new shirt that Sun-Il had picked up for him in the hospital.

"Alright Jee-Han, you've kept us in suspense of what happened long enough. Spill it" Sun-Il asked with a more serious tone than before as he felt a foreboding sensation that there was a reason that Jee-Han was carrying Yuri on his back; a _bad_ reason.

After Jee-Han had finished putting on his shirt, he retold everything that had occurred the moment that Sun-Il and Shi-Yun had stepped out of the school. Once he finished speaking, the two of them had realized the seriousness of the situation and adopted serious expressions, with Sun-Il even gritting his teeth.

"So they've come at last huh…" Sun-Il worded with a hostile tone as Jee-Han noticed that his fists were clenched tightly together.

An eyebrow was raised from the confused Jee-Han. "Judging by the way that your squeezing your hand, I'm assuming you know who it was that attacked me. Care to fill me in?"

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Sun-Il proceeded to answer Jee-Han's curiosity. "No, I don't know who exactly was the one that was targeting you. I _do_ know however, that whoever did it must be a cleaner that apparently knows that you are an ability user"

"And a cleaner is what exactly?" Jee-Han repeated.

It was Shi-Yun's turn to step in this time as an unpleasant frown was present on her face. "A Cleaner is a term used by dwellers of the Abyss for individuals who specifically target and hunt human beings that have awakened promising abilities" Shi-Yun knew all about the Cleaner business from her clan and just thinking about them made her stomach turn in disgust.

Jee-Han swallowed his spit as he began to nervously sweat. "S-So that means… I'm being targeted? By a bunch of lunatics? And… what exactly do they want with me?" In all honesty, he didn't really want to know.

"Nothing" Sun-Il stated, noticing the sigh of relief coming from his friend before he continued. "The cleaners aren't the ones you should be afraid of as their job is to only catch you and put you up for auction. The ones you should be worried about are the rotten investors that are looking to purchase you" Sun-Il's gaze hardened as a faint green aura enveloped his body, indicating that he was not in a very good mood "...If you were to know some of the inhumane things that some of these bastards do to newly awakened ability users such as yourself, you probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night`

A nervous gulp came from Jee-Han listening to Sun-Il as a sense of dread enveloped him at seeing just how pissed off his usually composed friend was. Clearly, whatever these "investors" had in store for someone like him, it was enough to make someone as passive as Sun-Il look ready to kill somebody.

"I've also heard of these people" Sung-Ah voiced as she raised her hand politely, seemingly unaffected by the gravity of the situation. "Dad always told me that those in the Abyss who purchased ability users as slaves were only after the large surplus of mana that flows through their bodies"

Sun-Il nodded at Sung-Ah, impressed with the girl's knowledge. "That's exactly right. The amount of mana that can be extracted from natural ability users is astronomical. In fact, most of the richest investors within the Abyss make a large deal of their profits using slavery, at least that's what my grandfather has told me"

"Slavery…" Jee-Han repeated with a frustrated expression. It was a word that was taboo among today's society as slavery was a _very_ sensitive subject for many people across the world. He had no idea that slavery within the Abyss was so common and was actually being used as a source of income for people. How could anybody even stomach the idea of selling someone as a slave?

"Why are you so surprised? You saw didn't you? On the Abyss Auction, there's a section designed specifically for the selling and purchase of slaves" Sun-Il pointed out.

"I know but…" Jee-Han had seen what Sun-Il was referring to but because he didn't want to believe it existed, he had purposefully ignored it. Even if he were to look through them, what would he gain? To see people like himself being auctioned off and stripped of their rights as human beings, it was a dreadful image that Jee-Han would never allow himself to be subjected too. He cherished freedom and it would be a cold day in hell before he would allow some psycho's catch him and put him up for sale. That all said, there _was_ one matter that was bothering Jee-Han as he traded glances with a confused Sun-Il.

" Wait a second here…" Jee-Han abruptly spoke with a stiffened expression. "Why am I only just finding out about these psycho's!? Don't you think that I should have known about people like this from the start!?" He declared as he shot Sun-Il a glare. The cause of his outburst was understandable as Jee-Han had just gone through what was most definitely a cleaner attack. What if he had been captured today along with Sung-Ah?

Sun-Il remained silent for a few moments under the guise of Jee-Han's eye contact, unable to answer his pleading friend's question. No, he could but he just didn't want too as he felt far too guilty about it. With no other way to do it, Sun-Il merely bowed his head and apologized sincerely. "I'm sorry Jee-Han. My grandfather had suspected that after the Troll Zombie incident some Abyss dwellers might come to know of your existence and plan to send Cleaners after you, which is why he ordered me to stick close to you as much as possible. It was only a suspicion and so we didn't feel the need to warn you about it but as today has proven, that was a complete mistake on our part"

"Sun-Il…" Jee-Han spoke gently as he saw the frustration written on Sun-Il's face at the blunder he and his grandfather had made. Knowing that Jee-Han could have been captured and sold off today without being able to prevent it and having been partially to blame for not warning him earlier would be a sin that would haunt the both of them for the rest of their lives. Sun-Il wasn't one who usually wore his emotions on his face so easily but this time, there were no traces of him hiding anything; he was being as sincere as possible.

Shi-Yun and Sung-Ah didn't say anything as they simply gazed at Jee-Han and awaited what he would do, eyes widening a bit when they saw him walk up to Sun-Il and lightly tap his shoulder.

"Hey, don't sweat it man. I'm the one who volunteered to go with you and the others into battle so I should have been prepared for any consequences. Don't beat yourself over it; I'm still here aren't I?" Jee-Han then grinned in a mischievous manner. "Besides, I was able to get some nice drops so I think that makes up for it, don't you think?"

While Sung-Ah giggled and Shi-Yun faintly smiled, Sun-Il slowly raised his head to see Jee-Han's usual grin and smiled softly, thanking the heaven's that his friend was still with him here. A resolute expression appeared on the man's face as he swore on his life that he would rather die than let any of the bastards from the Abyss try to take Jee-Han away. There was absolutely no way that was going to happen!

"Excuse me but, there are a few things that are bothering me about this situation" Shi-Yun cut in as she had somewhat ruined the moment between Sun-Il and Jee-Han as the former sent her a displeased glare while Jee-Han told her to proceed with her questions.

"To begin with, how was that girl able to be trapped inside of that Illusion Barrier with the two of you? Normal humans shouldn't be capable of being drawn within Illusion Barriers"

"Is that true?" Jee-Han had no idea as he cast his gaze towards Sun-Il who nodded.

"She's right. I never thought about it until now but it doesn't' make any sense. Sung-Ah is one thing but it shouldn't have been possible for Yuri to have be dragged in there with you…"

"Hmm…" Jee-Han cupped his chin, an idea popping into his head that might have resolved the current issue. "Maybe it's because it was a special type of Illusion Barrier?"

Sun-Il didn't look convinced as he frowned a bit. "Maybe… but I don't think that would be enough…"

"While that matter does concern me a bit, I am willing to ignore it for now and move on with my next question" Shi-Yun then glanced over at a startled Jee-Han. "I'd like to know why you didn't contact us using that weird power you possess. It should have been possible right?"

"Huh? Oh well that's…" Jee-Han was unable to answer Shi-Yun's piercing question as even Sun-Il stepped forward to question it.

"Yeah, why didn't you make a party and invite us?"

"… _I don't want to tell them that it was because I so nervous back then that I forgot…"_ Jee-Han admitted in his mind as he avoided their icy glares at him and tried to redirect the conversation another way.

"A-Anyway, what should be our next move against these cleaners? I can't imagine that they would just pack up and leave after I beat one of their pets" If only that would happen, Jee-Han wouldn't be in such a worried state right now.

Sun-Il let the other matter go for now as he firmly nodded. "Oh, they'll definitely be back. Now that they've gotten to see firsthand what kind of power you have, there's no way they'd leave you alone. The question is, are we dealing with just a single individual, a duo, or an entire organization? That's how cleaners usually operate" Sun-Il posed the million dollar question.

"Doesn't it seem odd that they'd send such a weak attack on him if it was a group? I believe it's more than likely to have been a single person" Shi-Yun chimed in.

Sun-Il agreed with Shi-Yun assessment "I'm with you on that one; there's no way such a simple attack would be carried out by an entire group. With Jee-Han's inexperience, surrounding him with sheer numbers would have been more than enough to capture him"

"So it's just one crazy bastard instead of an entire group of crazy bastards?" Jee-Han half joked with a sigh of relief. If it was just one person instead of an entire group trying to catch him, then this would be much easier.

"We don't have concrete proof to say that for sure but that's the most likely situation. It might also be a duo but I don't believe that's the case, since you're not such a threat yet that they'd need two people to capture you. In any case" Sun-Il glanced over at Shi-Yun who caught his gaze. "We should inform our respective clan's about this new development and take precautions. This isn't the first time that your clan has dealt with cleaners, has it?"

Shi-Yun's eyebrows twitched at the slight provocation held within Sun-Il's words as she stepped forward. "Of course not. The Yunhonmoon is more than equipped to deal with a single cleaner moving about. I'll inform them right away" She moved to leave the hallway but remembered something and quickly turned around and bowed to Jee-Han, surprising the brown haired boy. "I'm sorry for cancelling our scheduled training time, Jee-Han. I will definitely accept your proposal once the situation has become stable"

Jee-Han knew immediately what she was talking about and waived his hand in a friendly manner. "Don't worry about it, you've got your duties I'm sure. Whenever you have free time, just drop by the Chunbumoon dojo" Jee-Han then recalled his earlier promise with Shi-Yun about her injured clan mates and flashed a confident grin. "I should be able to heal those broken members of your clan by tomorrow. Do you think you can wait until then?" In all of the commotion, he had almost forgotten about it. He was going to grind the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』technique tonight as much as he could.

Naturally, Shi-Yun had no issues with that date and bowed once again to her benefactor. "Understood. You may use that strange power of yours to contact me whenever you believe you are ready to heal them. Then, if you'll excuse me" She turned around and headed towards the stairs that would take her to the exit, leaving Jee-Han, Sun-Il, and Sung-Ah to plan their next move.

"I'll head back and tell my grandfather and the rest of the family about this, we'll need to prepare a force to deal with the cleaners when they show up" Sun-Il mentioned as he headed for the stairs as well. "You coming?"

Jee-Han nodded earnestly. "Definitely. You think I'd just sit on my ass while a bunch of psycho's are trying to capture me?" He turned to Sung-Ah. "Can you watch over Yuri until she wakes up? She'll no doubt start wondering about what went down today so you should tell her she fainted in class and had a bad dream"

Sung-Ah was a bit dejected that she couldn't go with Jee-Han and Sun-Il to the dojo as she had always wanted to visit one but understood the situation perfectly and nodded. "You can count on me; I'll keep watch over the noisy girl. She's sleeping on my bed and so this is quite a problem for me too" Sung-Ah mentioned with a pout, causing Sun-Il and Jee-Han to chuckle. At least she was honest.

"Alright, then be safe" Jee-Han waived to Sung-Ah before turning and following Sun-Il down the staircase, leaving the still waiving Sung-Ah by herself as a sigh escaped the young girl's mouth as she watched them leave.

"I missed my chance to ask him…" Sung-Ah frowned as she had originally planned on asking Jee-Han to help her become stronger so that she wouldn't have been useless whenever there was a situation like the one she and Jee-Han had encountered today. She remembered how frightening it was seeing one of her only dear friends risk his life to protect both her and the annoying girl and wished from the bottom of her heart that she could have helped fight in a bigger way. Sure, she had been able to contribute to the victory in some way but what if in the future she was put in a spot where she couldn't help Jee-Han like she had done so? She needed strength, a way of being able to fight and stand by his side when those that would wish to harm him came.

In the end, the only thing that Sung-Ah could think of was to wait for another opportunity to ask Jee-Han to help and just as she was about to walk back inside of her room, the voice of another woman diverted her attention.

"Excuse me"

Sung-Ah turned her head to the left and noticed that there was a woman dressed as a nurse approaching her from the other side of the hallway. She had beautiful blonde hair that reached past her shoulders and clear emerald eyes that sparkled like priceless gems. What really surprised Sung-Ah was how physically attractive the nurse was as she possessed a curvy and sensual figure, highlighted by how the outfit she was wearing clung tightly to her hips and ample breasts.

The nurse had finally reached Sung-Ah and smiled beautifully at her, flustering the surprised Sung-Ah who was captivated by her looks.

"Pardon me but…" The sound of her voice was both angelic and seductive, enough so that Sung-Ah felt that it would have been extremely difficult to refuse anything she asked for. "...Are you perhaps Hwan Sung-Ah?"

Sung-Ah blinked, trying to comprehend how the nurse had known her identity before faintly nodding at her inquisition. "Yes, I am. May I ask who you are?" Sung-Ah had been enlisted in this hospital for months and knew every doctor and nurse that worked here. This woman was someone she had never seen before so it wasn't unreasonable for her to be a bit suspicious, especially since this unknown nurse had known her name.

A sigh of relief escaped the nurse's mouth and she quickly grabbed a hold of Sung-Ah's hands, startling the high school girl. "Thank goodness! You see, I just started working here and I was told to check on the very sick patient located on the third floor" A faint blush then appeared on the blonde woman's face out of embarrassment. "But you see, I had gotten lost and my memory isn't that sharp so I had forgotten the room number of where you were placed in"

"O-Oh…" Sung-Ah's suspicious radar began to fade as she listened to the nurse's rather frantic rant about how she had screwed up. Though her father had instructed her to be extremely careful with whom she interacted with, Sung-Ah just couldn't find anything that would indicate the nurse was someone she should be wary of. As such, she instinctually lowered her guard. "I-I see. I'm glad that everything worked out for you"

"You got that right" The nurse smiled brightly, then realizing that she still was holding hands with Sung-Ah and let her go immediately. "Ah sorry about that. I got carried away there" She backed up a bit to give the girl space.

Sung-Ah shook her head to perish the idea that she was bothered by it at all. "No problem. I don't believe you've told me your name though, Miss" She addressed her respectfully. Sung-Ah at least wanted to know the identity of the nurse who had made a rather amusing first impression.

"Of course, where are my manners?" The nurse chuckled as she flicked a strand of her luscious blonde hair out of her eyes and offered a handshake to Sung-Ah. "I am Jade Casablanca, a nurse that now works in this hospital" She then smiled in a way that could both entrance any man that laid eyes on her but also frighten those who were able to look past the facade and peer deep into the hidden maliciousness that was Jade's true character.

"It's a pleasure to meet you"

* * *

Sprinting across a wide open field while panting and sweating profusely was none other Poong Sae-Young, a member of the Chunbumoon and cousins with Sun-Il. After completing an assignment given to her by the clan in the morning, she had spent the past several hours running across a track field that was located at a nearby college that some of her friends had attended. Because she was an Olympic Gold Medalist and her reputation was so prominent, she had no issues with getting permission to use the field.

"Wow, look at her go!" A brown haired girl voiced in admiration as she watched the gallant figure of Sae-Young run what seemed to be her hundredth lap.

"I can't believe how fast she is…" One of the older guys who was also sweating, an indication that he had done some exercise of his own, said in a baffled tone. Just what kind of a monster was she?

Sae-Young tuned out their voices as she crossed the line and finished her sprint, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Wanting to break her own record, Sae-Young had attempted the sprint more than a handful of times and was finally reaching her limit, despite the fact that she possessed stamina and endurance far above a normal human being.

"How… How was my time?" She asked one of the girls in the back who had come over with a stopwatch in her hand.

"It was amazing! You cleared it in 4.8 seconds! Way to go Sae-Young-noona!" The girl voiced with eccentric enthusiasm at the marvelous record. Sae-Young was the greatest female athlete she had seen in her life!

"What? There's no way!"

"Seriously? That girl's insane…"

"I think I'm in love…"

Numerous murmurs began popping around the several athletes' that were gathered in the field at Sae-Young's unprecedented numbers. Sae-Young had always been a girl that was able to do what normal people couldn't but the idea of her clearing such a large sprint in such a short amount of time was still a feat that unnerved most of them.

"Hm, not bad" Sae-Young noted with a faint smirk at her record, satisfied with how she had finished her sprint. There was no way anyone was going to beat that reciord anytime soon and so she felt reassured that she would remain the best athlete among all of the colleges within Seoul.

Suddenly feeling a bit thirsty, Sae-Young motioned for the girl to go grab her a water bottle, before swiftly turning around and catching a water bottle that had thrown to her.

"What the?" Sae-Young raised one eyebrow, momentarily shocked at how quickly the girl had gotten her the water bottle. She glanced at her but found that she was also making a confused expression, clearly indicating that she wasn't the one who had thrown it.

"You're thirsty right? Drink up"

Sae-Young's attention turned towards the direction from where the bottle had come from, eyes slightly widening at the unfamiliar girl that had entered the track field. She had short blue hair and was wearing a blue jacket with black shorts that did an excellent job at highlighting her rather toned legs. Her looks were rather favorable as well as several of the guys that were previously swooning over Sae-Young had now shifted their gazes at the vibrant girl who wore a wide smile.

"...Thanks" Sae-Young curtly nodded towards her as she removed the cap and downed the cold drink, breathing a huge sigh of relief as her thirst was quenched.

The blue haired girl waived her hand off and stopped in front of Sae-Young, "Anytime. I heard you were the fastest girl around this area, is that true?"

Sae-Young saw the rather apparent competitive spirit held within the girl's eyes and wore a smug expression. "That's right. I don't like to tote my own horn but I doubt you'll find anyone that can run faster than me in the city"

"Oh?" A glint of ferociousness came from the blue haired girl that momentarily alerted Sae-Young's acute senses as she saw the malicious grin that appeared on the girl's soft facial features. "Is that a fact?"

The girl briskly walked past Sae-Young's idle figure and glanced over at the girl who was holding the stopwatch "Do me a favor and record my time" she ordered as she crouched down and took the usual stance of a sprinter.

"O-Oh, okay!" The girl was a bit surprised when she was given an order like that out of the blue but quickly regained her bearings and held her hand up to signify when she could start, while her other hand held the stopwatch and was ready to record.

Sae-Young crossed her arms and observed the new girl from the back, wondering just who this unfamiliar girl was to boast such confidence against her. Any athlete who was worth remembering in this city wasn't anywhere near her level so it really bothered her who this girl was that apparently also knew of Sae-Young's reputation and still had the balls to challenge her. Was she a foreign student?

"Ready" The girl with the stopwatch began. "Go!"

In a flash, the blur haired girl's body vanished from sight as the onlookers were left speechless as to where she had gone. Only Sae-Young had enough training to keep up with this girl's speed and her mouth was left hanging wide open at how ridiculously fast she was. She might have been, no, she was _definitely_ faster than her!

Moments later, the blue haired girl reappeared at the end of the field, directing a fierce glare at the girl holding the stopwatch that startled the poor girl and made her instinctively hit the stop button on the watch. She stopped glaring and put on a wide smile as she casually walked over towards the frightened girl. "What's my time?"

"H-Huh? O-Oh, it's…" The girl was still in a daze as a few drops of sweat fell from her face at the blue haired woman's ferocious glare that shook her to her core. She slowly looked down at the watch to read out the recorded time and nearly doubled over at the numbers that flashed on the screen. "T-T-Two point f-five seconds!?" This couldn't be happening; she had beaten Sae-Young's record by nearly half the time!

"Impossible! There's no way anyone can be that fast!"

"Is she even human!? Just what was that just now!?"

"Damn it, I should have brought my phone out to record that! Can you do it again please!?"

While the onlookers were all thrown into a frenzy at the girl's remarkable display of speed, Sae-Young's eyes were narrowed at the new challenger that had appeared out of nowhere. She knew the moment she saw this girl's speed that she was no ordinary human being and that she was definitely involved with the Abyss somehow; whether it be good or bad was unknown.

"So, how was I? Shocked aren't cha?" The blue haired girl asked with a teasing voice as her smile couldn't have gotten any wider. Seeing the shocked reactions from all those present was just too much fun!

"You… just who the hell are you?" Sae-Young asked with both a tone that flashed with hostility and interest as her desire for a rival had been spurred on due to this girl's unexpected appearance.

"Oh that's right, I forgot to introduce myself" The girl threw both her hands behind her back and met Sae-Young's curious eyes with a smug and proud expression of her own. There was no way Sae-Young could have known just what kind of thoughts were going through the mind of this innocent looking girl whose smile perfectly covered the swirling complexity of her inner self.

"I'm Anna. I hope we can get along, Sae-Young-chin"

* * *

 **A/N: Nice Cliffhanger right? So Jee-Han was able to take out the Shadow Wolf with Sung-Ah's help and it shows that just because you don't have abilities doesn't mean you can contribute in a battle. Don't worry though, Sung-Ah will definitely be able to assist Jee-Han in battle later in the story but you have to remember that she is still currently weak and fragile but is mentally tough and brave that makes her able to think clearly even in situations like those.**

 **So Paradise has infiltrated Seoul and are clearly trying to sneak their way into the lives of Jee-Han's friends and colleagues. Some of you may wonder why Paradise doesn't just try to all gang up and capture Jee-Han now but don't worry, those questions will be answered very soon.  
**

 **A New Affinity for Jee-Han is always a great thing right? Shadow Step will certainly be a move he will need in the future. That feature Jee-Han discovered with his clones was done off screen so I know alot of your must be surprised but like I said before, I can't show every single ability he gets.**

 **Next chapter, we'll be getting some action with the Yunhonmoon and Jee-Han is going to attempt to do something that will make alot of you really shocked lol. I won't spoil any further as I want to leave you with that.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class** : The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Killer of Goblins》  
 **Level** : 32 (↑2 UP)

 **Element** **Affinity** :  
• **Nature** \- 18  
• **Earth** \- 83 (↑3 UP)  
• **Darkness** \- 10 (NEW)

 **HP** : 1980/1980  
 **MP** : 3640/3640  
 **SP** : 350/350

 **STR** : 37  
 **VIT** : 44  
 **DEX** : 38  
 **INT** : 70  
 **WIS** : 71  
 **LUK** : 50

 **Equipment** :  
• Accessory - (Azure Ring)

 **Points** : 18  
 **Money** : ₩4,125,006

* * *

 **《** **Skills** **》**

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2  
• Vine Control (Active) | Lv: 4  
• Meteor Shot (Active) | Lv: 5 **«** ↑1 **UP** **»** **  
**• Vine Drain (Active) | Lv: 2

 **Defensive:**  
• Mana Shield (Active) | Lv: 5

 **Support:**  
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 6  
• Observe (Active) | Lv: 16  
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 14  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 10  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive & Active) | Lv: 14  
• Spirit Channel (Active) | Lv: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) | Lv: MAX  
• Replication (Active) | Lv: 6  
• Stone Lotus Style (Passive) | Lv: 3

 **Resistances and Masteries:**  
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lv: 11 **«** ↑ **3 UP** **»  
** • Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 5  
•Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lv: 3  
• Earth Magic Mastery (Passive & Active) | Lv: MAX

 **Miscellaneous:**  
• ID Create (Active) | Lv: 8  
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 7 **  
**• Shadow Step (Active) | Lv: 1 **«NEW»**


	18. (Arc 2) Chapter 18

**A/N: I'm still alive! Haha, no but seriously guys we've already been through this and I'm not going to go on some long winded speech on why I haven't posted in almost 7 months. I'll just say that life's been pretty shaky but aside from that, I'm happy to announce the return of The Gamer - Restart. So, we last left off where Anna and Jade have made contact with Sung-Ah and Sae-Young and are planning on getting some info. Worried? You should be, because this arc is going to heat up pretty soon as Jee-Han's inevitable showdown with Paradise draws closer.**

 **This chapter mainly focuses on the Yunhonmoon and we'll finally see Jee-Han heal the injured members of Shi-Yun's clan. Not to mention, that special little surprise I mentioned last chapter will be happening so look forward to that!**

 **REMINDER!**

 **You can find some avatars of the OC' that I've made for the story by going to my DeviantART page by googling "TheBlackDuelist".**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 18**

While Jee-Han was busy focusing his attention on becoming stronger in order to protect himself from the hidden cleaners, another individual had their own troubles to deal with as they stood in front of a suspicious looking shop. Adjusting their black shades, this individual was wearing a rather snazzy black business suit and had the appearance and presence of a mafia boss as a heavy frown was plastered on his face.

Sung-Gong, the one known and feared in the Abyss as the **《Black Summoner》** had visited this place many times in the past prior to settling in Seoul. It was a building known as **《** **Abel's Workshop** **》** or just **《The** **Workshop** **》** for short as most Abyss dweller's called it as such for convenience.

The Abyss Auction was such a vast gathering of both information and magic items that it was inevitable that underground branches would have to exist in some way or another. It wasn't against the laws of the Abyss to set up your own shop and sell items outside of the company but very few actually did so as there was nothing these self-employed shops had that the Abyss Auction didn't have a better version of. The Workshop was one of the few exceptions to this as there were many items that the owner, Abel had gathered that even Abyss Auction hadn't acquired, which made it quite a popular attraction to those looking to get the best items without the tax of paying through the auction.

It was precisely _because_ of this shop's favorable reputation that Sung-Gong had come here with a boiling anger swelling within him as this was the store that had sold him the Zombie Illusion Barrier.

" _There's not a chance in hell that Abel would ever sell me a faulty product… but that Troll Zombie that was created from my Illusion Barrier couldn't have just been some coincidence..."_ Sung-Gong slowly reached his hand out to grab the door handle, preparing himself for what awaited him on the other side. He was willing to hear Abel out before he made any rash decisions as he owed the man several favors. However, if he were to confirm today that Abel had willingly set him up by selling him that bizarre item, he'd show him no mercy.

Pushing the door forward, Sung-Gong walked into the small workshop where the sound of a bell rang out from the top of the door, alerting those inside that someone was entering. The shop was just as Sung-Gong remembered; plain but also extravagant as several rare items were on full display around the store, clashing with the cheap and uninspiring furniture. Abel _was_ always one who loved to splurge on anything magic related but was a cheapskate when it came to keeping up social appearances. It was a quality about him that Sung-Gong actually respected believe it or not.

Sung-Gong gazed around the shop and took note of each of the expensive items that were shown across the room. They were protected by a very thin but potent magic barrier that would prevent the items from theft or property damage, requiring Abel himself to personally dispel the barrier for the item to be touched. In the Abyss, theft was not uncommon and measurements like these needed to be taken to prevent a loss in merchandise.

"The person who just walked in, hold on just a second. I'll be out there to help you in a moment"

That sudden voice came from the back of the store as Sung-Gong noticed the door leading into the backroom right behind the counter. This wasn't new to Sung-Gong so he didn't mind the delay as he casually stood in the middle of the store, awaiting the arrival of the infamous Abel. He heard the sounds of stuff being thrown and tossed all over the place, most likely junk of some kind, and ignored it as it wasn't his business.

A few minutes passed before Sung-Gong finally heard footsteps coming from the back room, followed by someone appearing from the door as they walked to the front of the counter. It was a middle aged man, clearly past the prime of his youth as while he wasn't as old as Sun-Oh, he clearly wasn't young enough to be referred to as a "young man" anymore. He had short black hair and rough facial features, with a few scars and bruises over his face that clearly showcased that he had gone through his own share of difficulties in life. His build was muscular, highlighted by the tight black shirt he wore that showed off his enormous biceps and chest muscles. All in all, he looked like a retired war veteran that still had a good couple of years left of whatever remained of his expired prime before he turned old and decrepit.

Once Abel had walked to the front of the counter, he flashed his usual friendly smile to the customer in front of him "Why, hello there! Thank you for coming to my workshop how may I…huh?" It had just dawned on him who he was speaking too as he blinked his eyes several times before his face twisted into a wide grin. "Sung? What a surprise! I never thought I'd see you back here again so soon! What, you forget to buy something?" He teased as he greeted Sung-Gong in a welcoming manner. Sung-Gong was not only one of his wealthiest regulars at the store but also one of the few people in the Abyss that Abel knew on a personal level. They weren't exactly the best of friends but they shared quite a few number of drinks together and were comfortable enough in each other's presence. Why wouldn't he greet him this way?

Unlike Abel though, Sung-Gong was unresponsive to Abel's friendly greeting as he observed his friend's demeanor, searching for any signs of deceit in his posture or expression. His evaluation proved unsuccessful unfortunately as he didn't see any nervousness or dread in the man standing in front of him. It shouldn't have been difficult to do as Abel was an honest and open person and would always wear his emotions on his sleeve. If he truly was hiding something, Sung-Gong should have noticed at least _something_ off about him and yet he didn't feel anything was out of place with him.

Perhaps a more direct approach was necessary?

Following that, Sung-Gong drew his arm forward, ignoring the odd look coming from the no doubt confused Abel, and flashed the broken ring that was attached to his finger. "About a month ago, I purchased this product from you. The reason why I'm here today is to voice a certain complaint about it"

"...A complaint you say?" Abel's face twitched at Sung-Gong's words and his friendly grin from before evaporated into a slight frown that matched well with his rough looking face.

Others might have missed it but Sung-Gong was keenly aware of the shift in Abel's face and smirked.

Now he was getting somewhere.

"Yes, a complaint. You see, this Illusion Barrier that I bought from you worked perfectly fine, at least at first anyway. However, a few days ago there was an incident so to speak that occurred within the fabricated space of this Illusion Barrier that was quite... shocking to say the least" Sung-Gong took a few steps closer to the counter and looked Abel straight in his eyes with a fierce glare. "You wouldn't by any chance happen to know why that happened would you?"

In response to Sung-Gong's threatening demeanor, Abel swallowed a large chunk of saliva in his mouth and began to sweat nervously.

"I-I..." Abel stammered, hesitant on how to answer the infamous dark magician standing in front of him. There wouldn't have been any reason to be so nervous had Sung-Gong come here and voiced his complaint normally but the chilling way he spoke to him now made Abel understand very clearly that Sung-Gong was _not_ in the mood for any games. Whatever seemed to happen in that Illusion Barrier he sold to him, it must have done a great job at pissing him off as the man's hidden rage was unmistakable.

"What's wrong, Abel?" Sung-Gong continued, playing on the man's visible reluctance. "It's not like you to be so nervous. Is it perhaps because... you _knew_ something was wrong with the Illusion Barrier when you sold it to me? Hmm?"

"O-Of course not!" Abel hastily shook his head to deny the ridiculous accusation and tried to explain the misunderstanding. "You have to believe me Sung, I had _no_ idea what was wrong with that item! I wasn't even the one who made it! I... I was just pressured by someone into selling you that item, I swear!" Abel had always felt guilty towards selling Sung-Gong a potentially faulty product but he was under his own dire circumstances that prevented him from speaking his worries to Sung-Gong. Now that the man came here to confront him about it however, it was an entirely different story and Abel knew he had to come clean.

"Hoh..." Sung-Gong hummed whimsically at Abel's confession, taking particular interest in the fact that the men not only claimed that he wasn't the one who created the Illusion Barrier but also that he was pressured by someone else to sell it to him. Having known Abel as long as he had, Sung-Gong was already able to deduce that the man wasn't lying and truly was innocent regarding the incident that happened a few days ago. Since Abel was no longer under suspicion, Sung-Gong now had to worry about who had created that abomination and what exactly was their aim.

Sung-Gong wasn't stupid, he was fully aware of the various organizations and individuals that wished him dead but none of them had the balls to actually carry out their threats. However, this person that pressured Abel into selling him that Illusion Barrier clearly did so with a motive, as if he knew that Sung-Gong was specifically looking for soul stones.

With his interest piqued, Sung-Gong asked the obvious question. "And just who was this person that pressured you into selling me that piece of junk?"

"T-That is…" Abel was a bit hesitant to answer Sung-Gong's inquiry as he recalled the dreadful presence of the individual who had given him the item and pressured him to sell it to Sung-Gong, who at that time was in desperate search of a zombie type Illusion Barrier. Under normal circumstances, he never would have obliged with the person's ridiculous request as Abel's honor far outweighed whatever personal gain that person could offer him. However, what they offered him was not something Abel had much of a choice in refusing. Just remembering the threat they used against him made Abel clench his fists tightly and bite into his lower lip, enough so that blood began to drip from his mouth.

Taking a deep breath, Abel spoke his next words very slowly and filled with resentment.

"It was Jackal. In exchange for the lives of my wife and daughter... I agreed to sell that Zombie Illusion Barrier to you for them" The pain in Abel's voice made his answer sound a bit muffled but that was the least of Sung-Gong's worries as the name of the person he had spoken had shocked him to the core of his being.

"Jackal..."

Sung-Gong's face twisted into one of anxiousness as the name of the person who Abel had just spoken was someone that Sung-Gong knew all too well. How could he not? Informants were highly sought after existences within the Abyss and Jackal was at the top of the list of coveted informants. Hell, even he had contemplated on trying to track them down for some important piece of information but they proved to be almost impossible to pin point.

There was a saying within the Abyss regarding Jackal, and that was that you don't find Jackal, Jackal finds you. That all said, there was still something that was seriously bothering Sung-Gong.

" _Why would Jackal try to sabotage my Illusion Barrier? No, that's not what's important. The issue here is where on earth did he get such an item that would cause the monsters within to combine and then try to forcibly escape an Illusion Barrier? Just what does this all mean?_ " There were many questions plaguing the troubled Sung-Gong, who had believed that today's trip would have been a simple one but it turned out that there was an even bigger mess brewing in the shadows than he had originally thought.

Putting that matter aside for now, Sung-Gong observed Abel's body posture and sullen look, his eyes then drifting over towards a picture that was hung on the wall. It depicted a cheerful young boy, a beautiful young woman, and Abel himself standing over them in the middle of a picnic.

" _Blackmail huh…?"_ Sung-Gong saw the pained look on Abel's face, he was unable to hide the sheer guilt of his actions and he knew that despite his motives being noble, that didn't change the potential harm his actions could have caused one of his customers. Abel loved his family more than life itself. It was both his strength and weakness. Jackal clearly took advantage of that weakness and exploited it to no end. It was a dirty but effective tactic as Sung-Gong chuckled a bit at his earlier thoughts. To even suspect that Abel had betrayed him, he felt almost ashamed of himself.

"Uh... i-is everything alright?" Abel had no idea why Sung-Gong had stopped talking and started chuckling all of a sudden. Just a few moments ago he was angry enough that Abel felt terrified of what might happen to him but now he was in a good mood? Where was the logic in that?

"Huh? Oh, sorry about that" Sung-Gong realized quickly how confusing his actions must have been and waived his hand in the air to dispel Abel's worries.

"Everything is fine. Rather, I'm grateful for your assistance in helping me solve this case" He then turned around all of a sudden and headed for the exit as he looked over his shoulder "Try not to get involved with Jackal anymore. I don't know much about what they are but you're certainly better off not associating with someone that suspicious. Take care"

Before he could leave however, Abel called out to him "W-Wait Sung!"

Sung-Gong stopped his retreat as he turned around to meet Abel with a confused look "What is it?"

"...Just what exactly went wrong inside that Illusion Barrier?" Abel would be lying through his teeth if he said he wasn't ghastly curious on what transpired in that dimensional space that would make someone like Sung-Gong so agitated.

Sung-Gong didn't answer immediately and just stood close to the door, contemplating whether explaining what happened to Abel was a good idea or not. There were only a handful of people excluding himself that knew about the incident that happened a few days ago, as the news of an Illusion Barrier monster trying to break free from the fabricated dimension was something no one would believe unless they saw it for themselves. Even Sung-Gong was still having a hard time believing that it happened and so telling others who weren't involved in the case seemed rather pointless.

With his mind made up, Sung-Gong merely shook his head at Abel's question.

"It's not your problem so there's no need for you to know" It may have seemed cold but it was truly for the best this way.

Abel took Sung-Gong's cold response with a frustrated frown, clearly disappointed that the man didn't seem to trust him the same as he did before but accepted it nonetheless. He was grateful that Sung-Gong merely let him off with that, today's encounter could have turned into something _much_ worse had Sung-Gong believed him to be the main culprit behind the faulty Illusion Barrier. Though their trust had taken a bit of a hit, Sung-Gong didn't see him as an enemy and that was good enough for him.

"Alright, I won't poke around in whatever it is your tangled up with. I just want you to know that I'm sorry for anything that might have happened..." Abel cast his gaze downwards with a solemn look as his mouth had a hard time uttering what he wanted to say without choking up. "Even if that bastard was using them hostage... I know it was wrong for me to do what I did... I just-"

"Enough" Sung-Gong cut him off as Abel promptly shut his mouth. "There's no reason for you to apologize. You did what you had to do. I'm not angry at you anymore now that I know that your not the one responsible for creating that Illusion Barrier" A faint smirk then curved onto his lips "You're a good man Abel. You're one of the few people I know that I can say that too"

"Sung..." Abel worded with watery eyes as he expressed his utmost gratitude in Sung-Gong forgiving him in the form of a bow. Losing Sung-Gong's trust was something he dreaded after selling him that product and he was forever grateful that the man still considered him an ally. Friend would be overstepping his boundaries, at least that's he believed Sung-Gong would say. "Thank you..."

"Don't worry about it" Sung-Gong coolly said, turning to leave the store once again "Just make sure you give me a discount on the next item I order. Then, I'll call us even" The door opened and Sung-Gong walked right out, leaving the stunned Abel without a chance to respond as the man wiped the tears from his face with his large arms and grinned widely.

"I'll get you the best deal in the house! I absolutely promise that!" Abel shouted, despite the fact that Sung-Gong had already left. Everyone knew how ruthless Sung-Gong could be and yet, he was kind enough to let this matter go so easily. Abel considered it a blessing that he was even still alive.

" _Even though he was angry, he wasn't as terrifying as he used to be when I first met him… does that mean he succeeded in what he set out to do with that Illusion Barrier? And just what was the problem with that item? I'm getting some serious bad vibes here..._ " He was bothered by the implications of what had transpired but there really was no point in worrying about it and as such, Abel went back to running his own shop. He was definitely going to take the man's advice and cease all connections with Jackal; it was for the sake of his beautiful wife and child after all.

Meanwhile, Sung-Gong had stopped right outside of Abel's shop and let out a heavy sigh before looking up into the air, trying to make sense of the situation he was in. He was confident that everything was going to turn out okay after his daughter had been healed by Jee-Han's mysterious powers but an even bigger headache was now bothering him regarding why someone of Jackal's status would intentionally sabotage him.

" _I've never met them before in my life, so why? I'm aware I have a long list of enemies but I don't remember pissing someone off who would be connected to them. Unless, Jackal isn't the one who is actually after me but instead, someone else is using Jackal to get to me. Yes, that sounds much more plausible. The question now is… who is it? And what exactly do they want?_ " Sung-Gong was getting a bad feeling as he feared that the answers to his questions wouldn't come so easy. There was _one_ person on Sung-Gong's mind that he suspected might be connected to this but he quickly dismissed that theory as he didn't want to believe that man would stoop to using Jackal for that.

In any case, the priority now was getting back to Seoul and watching over Sung-Ah as the possibility of Jackal or whoever was using them coming after her was a slim, but not impossible scenario. He trusted the Chunbumoon and Jee-Han to look after her but that didn't stop him from worrying.

" _I don't know who it is that's after_ me..." Unlike the warm smile Sung-Gong had given Abel, the one spread across his face was malicious and filled with nothing but dread and despair befitting the one known as the Black Summoner. "... _but they're going to pay dearly for trying to mess with me, mark my words_ "

* * *

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and the streets were filled with people going about their daily lives, completely unaware of the supernatural events that were taking place within the realm of what everyone labelled as the Abyss. Amidst the crowd of unsuspecting people however, was one person who _did_ know about the other side and the dangers that came with being involved in it. How could he not? It hadn't even been a couple of days since he had found out that he was being targeted and that cleaners from the Abyss had begun to come after him.

Han Jee-Han, the Gamer who had gained game like powers had lured out these people like a jar of honey attracting a swarm of bees.

Peeking his head out from behind the corner of a building, Jee-Han was currently inside one of his created Illusion Barriers and had a nervous expression on his face. After having been warned by both Sun-Il and Shi-Yun regarding the Cleaners coming after him, Jee-Han had become extra careful with how he moved about now and couldn't just casually walk through the streets anymore, not unless he wanted another situation like the one from before involving Sung-Ah and Yuri.

Speaking of those two, Sung-Ah had informed him earlier that Yuri had woken up not long after they had left the hospital and that she explained to her that she fainted in the middle of class due to a severe fever and began hallucinating. Being as intelligent as she is, Yuri obviously held her doubts but because her brain couldn't accept the reality of the supernatural actually being real, she hesitantly accepted Sung-Ah's reasoning and promptly headed home.

"I don't think she totally bought it but at the very least, she should stop bothering me now" Jee-Han prayed in his mind that he wouldn't have to deal with Yuri anymore, not just because she would be a hindrance if they ever got stuck in another Illusion Barrier, but because he couldn't stand people like her.

"In any case..." Jee-Han began as a wide grin took shape on his lips when remembering what he had obtained after yesterday's training session over at the Chunbumoon compound. They had spent almost the entire afternoon last night grinding and farming goblin's, allowing Jee-Han to not only level up three times to level 35 but also acquire a butt load of money by selling the gear that had dropped from the bosses that spawned.

Having killed the Goblin Marauder more than a handful of times, Jee-Han was able to acquire the entire « **Marauder Set** » that included the chest, greaves, boots, and gloves worn by the Marauder itself. Even though the set was impressive because of its incredible defensive properties, Jee-Han wasn't able to wear it as he needed over 75 STR and VIT to equip the full set, making it rather useless to keep as he wasn't planning on wearing heavy armor in the first place. As such, he asked the Chunbumoon if they wanted it, which they did and he was able to net himself a little over 20 million won from that exchange. Another « **Sage Stone** » had also dropped from the Goblin Sage which Jee-Han naturally kept in his inventory for an appropriate time.

Jee-Han glanced at the two matching rings that were now sitting comfortably on his right ring and index finger as he recalled purchasing another MP ring last night on the Abyss Auction. It was known as the « **Dawn Ring** » which, like its pair the « **Azure Ring** », also boosted his MP by a total of 1000, now bringing his total mana up to 4710. With this much mana, Jee-Han wasn't going to need to have to worry about running out of magic anytime soon.

Aside from the ring, he also purchased a magic skill book called『 **Steel Skin** 』, which as the name suggested, allowed him to change the properties of his skin to mimic steel while also retaining its human elasticity. There were other books in the same category such as『 **Bronze Skin** 』or『 **Iron Skin** 』but Jee-Han chose the most durable one out of the options as he recalled the pain he felt when the Shadow Wolf had clawed him from all over his body. With Steel Skin only requiring 100 MP to activate and the duration lasting five minutes, that was no longer going to be an issue.

Clenching his fist in his hand, Jee-Han truly believed that he had made significant progress and had raised his survivability. However, that didn't mean that he could start being careless as Sun-Oh advised him last night that he should travel only within Illusion Barriers and not stray far from the Chunbumoon's or the Yunhonmoon's designated areas. If any cleaners were to attack him, the patrolling members would be there immediately to support him, which was a welcome surprise to the slightly anxious teenager.

Speaking of the Yunhonmoon, Jee-Han glanced at his watch and frowned a bit as he recalled the promise he had made with Shi-Yun yesterday.

"She's late..."

They had both agreed to meet up behind this dark alley at nine thirty in the morning on the dot. Jee-Han had arrived a few minutes before ten and it was now currently ten twenty five. It seemed odd that a girl like Shi-Yun, who was as straight laced and dutiful as they came, to be late on such an important day. Why was today important? Because it was the day that her clan mates that were disabled by Sung-Gong would finally be healed of their severe injuries.

"I should be able to heal them… right?" Jee-Han hesitated, a bit nervous on undertaking the request. Unlike with healing Sung-Ah of her curse or Sun-Il of his injuries, Jee-Han had no idea how critical any of their injuries were. What if one of them was missing a limb and he wasn't able to cure them? He could still remember the intimidating presence of Shi-Yun's grandfather as he feared the man would not be too pleased that Jee-Han had failed to accomplish what he bragged he could do.

Shaking his head to rid himself of that horrible scenario, Jee-Han reaffirmed his resolve by nodding his head. "No matter what, I'll make sure I prove to him that I'm not tall talk"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Oh, I'm just talking about-bah!" Jee-Han yelped like a frightened puppy as he swiftly turned around and saw none other than Shi-Yun standing a few feet away from him with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't' scare me like that!" She had nearly given him a heart attack as he took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. He was on edge as he was still on the look out for any potential cleaners in the area.

"…I thought you already knew that I was here" Shi-Yun admitted as she couldn't understand Jee-Han's overreaction towards her presence. Wasn't he capable of sensing other people's ki? If so, he should have known she had entered his Illusion Barrier immediately.

"Well I didn't, so I'd appreciate a heads up next time" Jee-Han sighed and decided to change the topic "What took you so long anyway? Didn't we agree to meet up almost half an hour ago?"

"That is what we agreed upon… but…" A shade of red appeared over Shi-Yun's soft cheeks that matched her hair as she fidgeted a bit. "…I seemed to have gotten the location of our meet up mixed up…"

Jee-Han blinked innocently when Shi-Yun had just basically admitted that she had gotten lost before he had to hold back a laugh with his mouth.

Shi-Yun's blush increased as she stomped her feet and he temper flared. "S-Shut up! I-I was only worried that you might have gone back on your promise last night so I couldn't sleep well!"

"Sureeee" Jee-Han humoured the fiery red head as she slightly pouted at him and crossed her arms while avoiding his gaze. It was the first time that Jee-Han had seen Shi-Yun act so embarrassed before as he found this side of her quite charming to some extent. It just went to show that even though she was one of the strangest girl's he had ever met and was strong enough to fight against humongous monsters, she was still a girl at heart.

Coughing to clear away the earlier mood and get back on track, Jee-Han asked the obvious question.

"You ready to go?"

Shi-Yun turned her gaze back onto Jee-Han and nodded, her embarrassed state from before nowhere to be seen. "Of course. Follow me, I shall escort you to the Yunhonmoon Center"

"Sounds like a plan" Jee-Han agreed as the two of them left the alley way and began sprinting across the streets, with Shi-Yun taking the lead as Jee-Han followed close behind.

It had just dawned on Jee-Han that this was the first time that he had been alone with Shi-Yun since back when she had saved him from being killed by those ghosts and he realized that he didn't know much of anything about her. They had fought together and helped each other out several times and were even close enough to exchange numbers and meet up, yet Jee-Han still didn't have the foggiest idea about Shi-Yun's back story. For example, who were her parents? Why weren't they here now? How long has she known about the Abyss? What are her dreams? There was so much that he wanted to know but hesitated on asking simply because Shi-Yun wasn't exactly the social type. Asking someone, especially a girl at that, personal questions like those was a bit out of Jee-Han's comfort zone.

"Your aura has gotten stronger" Shi-Yun unexpectedly said, startling the trailing Jee-Han for a moment.

"Has it? I've been training really hard over at the Chunbumoon but I didn't seem to notice..." He then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head in a flattered manner. "I'm still nothing compared to you guys though who have been doing this stuff a lot longer than I have"

Shi-Yun was a bit taken back by Jee-Han's modesty as she fully expected him to respond with some level of bragging at his newfound strength. He was chosen and gifted an ability by Gaia herself, a powerful one at that. He was certainly still an amateur but his growth rate was astounding, beyond anything that she had ever seen before in her life. Just being able to reach the level he was at now in such a short amount of time would be something to naturally brag about but instead, he still acknowledged others and even admitted his own flaws. Being humble wasn't something that Jee-Han needed to be, and yet he was.

A smile, just a small one that many wouldn't notice, formed on Shi-Yun's face as she continued forward. "You should have more confidence in yourself, Jee-Han. You are strong"

"Really?" Jee-Han exclaimed with both surprise and excitement at receiving praise from someone like Shi-Yun. A somewhat smug expression then appeared on his face "Well, I _am_ the Gamer after all"

"… _He's still an odd ball though_ " Shi-Yun thought privately as she paid no attention to his smug expression as they continued to dash through the streets, passing a new corner and finally stopping when they spotted a towering white building a few meters away.

"There it is" Shi-Yun pointed towards it as Jee-Han followed her finger and whistled in amazement.

"Man, it's completely different than what I expected. I thought it'd be some kind of dojo looking place, like what the Chunbumoon has"

Shi-Yun sneered at that comment. "That's because they are old fashioned. We're not like them, we're always trying to evolve and stay ahead of the current era"

"… _Is she trying to hype her own clan?_ " Jee-Han thought dryly before he shrugged and walked beside Shi-Yun towards the front of the white building. Using his『 **Sensory** 』ability, Jee-Han confirmed that no one else was around and then used『 **I.D Escape** 』to destroy the current Illusion Barrier they were both in, bringing them back to reality.

"Now then, shall we proceed?" Shi-Yun questioned the brown haired boy.

Jee-Han nodded. "Lead the way"

Stepping forward, Shi-Yun led Jee-Han into the building as they walked up to the front entrance, the sliding doors at the entrance opening themselves as Jee-Han was thrown off by the difference between the accommodations used here compared to the Chunbumoon. He was definitely more comfortable in this place as he walked alongside Shi-Yun into the main lobby, eyes befalling the several individuals scattered throughout the main hall conducting their own business. Some of them seemed to have noticed him and began murmuring to each other while others took one glance and shrugged before continuing on with whatever they were doing. Interestingly enough, whenever someone passed by Shi-Yun, they would always offer her a respectable bow or nod, which she returned naturally as if this was normal.

" _Considering who her grandparents are, it makes sense why they're so respectful towards her…_ " Jee-Han idly thought as he couldn't help but make the comparison between her and Sun-Il, both of them being the grandchildren of the leaders of their respective clans and hailed as prodigies. A chuckle escaped his lips as he thought that perhaps that's why they were always on each other's bad sides; they were both competing in their own way.

"What's wrong, Jee-Han?" Shi-Yun asked abruptly, causing Jee-Han to shake his head.

"Nothing, I just found something amusing is all. Let's continue"

Shi-Yun raised her eyebrow as she didn't understand why Jee-Han would be amused by any of this but shrugged nonetheless and led him to the nearby elevator. Once the doors opened, they both stepped inside and Shi-Yun clicked on the button that would lead them to the sixth floor, where their clinic was that treated those within the clan that had suffered injuries. After Jee-Han had laid his back against the elevator wall, he glanced over towards Shi-Yun who had both her arms crossed and felt compelled to start a conversation to make things less awkward.

"How many people are injured?" Jee-Han winced as he realized how dumb it was to break the ice by asking how many of her people had gotten their asses whopped.

"Thirty seven" Shi-Yun responded immediately, surprising Jee-Han who hadn't actually expected the number to be that large.

Jee-Han was a bit hesitant to speak his next choice of words but judged that he had to know sooner or later. "…Was anyone killed?" He knew how outrageously strong Sung-Gong was so that possibility might have existed.

Thankfully, Shi-Yun didn't react negatively as she shook her head. "There were no casualties in this incident"

A sigh of relief came from Jee-Han after learning that no one had died as he was fairly certain that he couldn't bring dead people back to life. It wouldn't even be funny if he had that kind of power and what the implications of wielding such a god like ability would mean.

"That's a relief. As long as they're still breathing, then I can patch them up as good as new" Jee-Han flashed a confident grin towards Shi-Yun, who nodded silently at his words. She had already seen him perform crazier things so doubting him now would be rather foolish. What she _was_ curious about though is what method he was going to use to cure her clan mates, as Sun-Il had mentioned that it was a part of his strange powers.

" _Perhaps I should start learning of these games so that I can understand his powers more_ …" Shi-Yun seriously considered the idea with a hardened expression as Jee-Han could only awkwardly smile and wonder just what exactly she was concentrating so hard about before the elevator finally arrived at its destination. The doors slid open and Shi-Yun escorted Jee-Han through the narrow hallway that had a corner at the end of the hall. Once they turned it, Jee-Han's eyes widened when he saw the figures of four individuals standing in front of the door that would most likely lead him into the medic room.

Two of four people Jee-Han instantly recognized as he couldn't forget their striking appearances during the Troll Zombie incident. Kwon Shi-Sen, Shi-Yun's grandfather and Kwon Shi-Yan, Shi-Yun's grandmother were standing beside one another as they finally noticed him and Shi-Yun's approach, along with the other two standing next to them. Jee-Han was unfamiliar with them but guessed that they were also high ranking members of the Yunhonmoon that were curious about his powers and wanted to see how he would heal their injured disciples.

After they reached the group of adults standing at the door, Shi-Yun bowed towards her grandparents. "I have brought him, grandfather"

"Well done" Shi-Sen curtly nodded towards his granddaughter before his dominating gaze befell the slightly startled boy, a somewhat friendly smile curved onto his lips "It has been awhile since we've last met, boy"

"… _It hasn't even been a week since I last saw him though…_ " Jee-Han thought dryly in his mind but didn't express his thoughts as he respectfully inclined his head towards Shi-Sen.

"That is has" He didn't dare use his usual informal tone like the one he used when speaking with Sun-Oh as he wasn't close enough with Shi-Sen to warrant it. Not to mention, he didn't want to accidentally offend someone who could probably whoop his ass to kingdom come.

"Have you been well?" Shi-Yan, who stepped a bit forward, asked with a foxy smile as she seemed pleased to see him.

In the face of Shi-Yan's beauty and intoxicating fragrance, Jee-Han felt a bit embarrassed but played it off by nodding without breaking eye contact "I'm doing great. I've trained a lot over at the Chunbumoon"

"Really now? I'm very pleased to hear that" Shi-Yan was slightly impressed with Jee-Han's fortitude as most boys would become easily flustered by her presence but he seemed calm and collected, a sign that he wasn't just physically strong. Reaching her hand out, Shi-Yan kept that same bewitching smile on her face. "By the way, I'm Shi-Yun's grandmother, Shi-Yan. Please treat my little Yun-Yun very well, she's still not quite used to having friends her own age, especially boys if you know what I mean"

"G-Grandmother!" Shi-Yun flailed, her face flushed red at her grandmother's insistence of calling her by that embarrassing nickname. It only took one look at that fox like smile to know that the older woman was doing it on purpose. In her moment of embarrassment however, Shi-Yun had mistakenly spoken the forbidden word as Shi-Yan glared at Shi-Yun, causing the frightened red head to straighten up on reflex.

"…Who are you calling grandmother? Huh?" She was smiling, but there was no joy or happiness in that smile. It was a smile that you never wanted to be on the receiving end of.

Instinctively, Shi-Yun edged herself behind Jee-Han as she softly apologized. "I-I'm sorry, Y-Yan-nim" She then whispered into Jee-Han's ears "Grandmother really hates being called by that name so please don't call her that"

"But you're the one you said it…" Jee-Han whispered back at the trembling Shi-Yun as he saw Shi-Yan's temper calm down while Shi-Sen and the other two elders were whistling as if this had nothing to do with them.

" _What kind of messed up family is this?_ " It was a bizarre sight for sure as Jee-Han felt that both the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon were weird. Did all martial artists have these quirks about them?

"Ahem" Shi-Mai coughed to clear the awkward mood as he stepped forward and introduced himself in front of Jee-Han. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Han Jee-Han. I am one of the elders of the Yunhonmoon, Kwon Shi-Mai. I heard of your valiant effort in solving the Troll Zombie case and I want to express my thanks towards you for coming here" He bowed respectfully towards Jee-Han.

"Don't worry about it, I did it for my own personal reasons so you don't have to thank me" Jee-Han explained as he was glad there was at least _one_ person here that was at least somewhat normal.

Raising his head, Shi-Mai smiled charmingly at Jee-Han, one that could probably win over the affections of many girls Jee-Han thought as he noted the man's above average looks. "Of course. So tell me Jee-Han, how exactly did you discover your powers? What are the functions of it? Are you aware of what tier your ability ranks? What kind of skills have you learned since the Troll Zombie incident?" Shi-Main suddenly began a rapid fire barrage of personal questions that Jee-Han was ill prepared to counter as he backed up to gain some space from the rambling red head. Clearly, he had judged him far too soon to label him as "normal".

"Shi-Mai..." Shi-Sen grumbled as he knew the man's habit of getting worked up far better than anyone else.

Realizing his blunder, Shi-Mai coughed embarrassingly. "M-My apologies for that earlier display. I seemed to have gotten carried away"

Jee-Han rolled his eyes. " _No kidding..._ "

"Now then, last but certainly not least" Shi-Mai followed his statement as he pointed towards the last elder to be introduced, Sun-Lai who was frowning in the corner "That grumbling gentleman over there is Kwon Sun-Lai, another elder of our clan"

Jee-Han paid the man his respects and curtly bowed. "Nice to meet you"

"Hmph" Sun-Lai huffed as he eyed Jee-Han from top to bottom, eyes squinting themselves when he found something peculiar. "Your body type is too skinny. You should start eating more to put on some muscle, kids these days are too scrawny"

" _...The hell's that supposed to mean?_ " Slightly offended by Sun-Lai's statement regarding his physique, Jee-Han felt a bit annoyed but didn't voice his thoughts and merely answered back with a forced smile.

"…I'll keep that in mind" Not just because he was a bit sensitive towards his lackluster figure when compared to Sun-Il or these other martial arts masters, Jee-Han said those words with a bit of annoyance as he side glanced over at the somewhat embarrassed Shi-Yun. She clearly didn't feel like her elders were doing a good job of maintaining their image as respectable adults and he honestly couldn't blame her.

"Enough" Shi-Sen spoke abruptly, alerting everyone's attention towards himself as he stared Jee-Han down with his piercing gaze "Boy, you claimed that you were capable of healing our crippled members the last time we met and in exchange, we provided Sung-Gong with assistance in resolving that earlier crisis. Were these not the terms we agreed too?"

That was just about what had happened so Jee-Han nodded "That's right"

"We've held up our end of the bargain so we should expect that you'll honour yours"

Shi-Yun felt the need to speak up on a certain matter as she stepped forward a bit "B-But grandfather-"

"However" Shi-Sen cut her off just before she was about to speak as he turned around and grabbed the door handle "I'm also aware of the debt that my granddaughter owes you for saving her life during that incident. So, to show my gratitude, I will make sure to properly compensate you for that favor"

Jee-Han had honestly forgotten about that but didn't really mind being owed another favor and went along with it. "...Alright then"

Shi-Yan was grinning widely as she stepped closer to the startled Jee-Han and whispered in his ear. "What he really means to say is 'Thank you so much for saving my precious granddaughter'" She even went to the trouble of mimicking his deep voice as Jee-Han found the act quite hilarious.

"… _Ah_ " Jee-Han thought amusedly as he whispered back. "He's that overprotective huh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe" Shi-Yan giggled as Shi-Yun couldn't hear what they were whispering about and tilted her head while Shi-Sen was coughing to rid himself of the slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

"I-In any case, let us head inside" Without further delay, Shi-Sen proceeded to open the door and led everyone present inside of the room.

As Jee-Han walked inside, he immediately felt a pleasant warmth enveloping his body and blinked at the several new notifications that appeared in front of him.

 **You have entered the Yunhonmoon's Recovery Dungeon!**

 **HP Recovery Rate Increased by 150 %!**

 **MP Recovery Rate Increased by 150 %!**

 **Stamina Recovery Rate Increased by 150 %!**

" _Wow, so even the Yunhonmoon has recovery dungeons like these?_ " Jee-Han faintly recalled that when he had visited Sun-Il awhile back when the man was hospitalized thanks to Sung-Gong, he had entered an Illusion Barrier similar to this one. Although, it seemed that the Yunhonmoon's was a bit more potent.

"Ugh..."

"It hurts..."

"M-My leg..."

Snapping out of his thoughts, Jee-Han noticed the groans coming from the hospitalized members spread out across the wide room as the extent of their injuries varied. Most of them were in stitches while others clearly had broken limbs as they were covered in bandages. Almost every single person inside this room was in far worse condition than what Sun-Il had been in and Jee-Han could only wonder if Sung-Gong really had to go this far just to keep them from interfering with his business.

"There's someone I wish for you to heal first" Shi-Sen announced without turning around as he continued forward, unresponsive to his clan's whimpering as Jee-Han followed closely with the others, eventually coming to a stop at the end of the room where one patient was resting. Jee-Han flinched when he saw the man's condition; clearly he had gotten the worst of Sung-Gong's rampage as he was covered in blood stained bandages all over.

"This is…?" Jee-Han reluctantly said as he saw the displeased expressions on all of the Yunhonmoon member's faces.

"Kwon Lu-Rai. He's one of our senior members that was the leader of the attack planned against Sung-Gong" Shi-Sen spoke, a faint trace of anger in his voice as his fists clenched. "…As you can see, his injuries are the most severe of our members"

"… _You got that right. Jeez, was Sung-Gong on his period when these guys attacked him?_ " Jee-Han was finally beginning to understand just why Shi-Yun hated Sung-Gong so much before. If Sung-Gong had put Sun-Il in this condition, would he have sought revenge against him like she had? Despite knowing it'd be hopeless?

It was a question he didn't want to know the answer too.

"Jee-Han" Shi-Yun had grabbed Jee-Han's sleeve and had lowered her head towards him, an act that was not often seen by the prideful girl. "…Please heal Oppa and the others if you can… please" She was practically begging him.

Jee-Han said nothing as he glanced over at the other Yunhonmoon members who were all also lowering their heads, including the clan leader Shi-Sen. It was just like when he was asked by Sung-Gong to heal Sung-Ah; they were all willing to put aside their pride and lower their heads to someone clearly inferior to them if it was for the sake of those close to them. Even without the compensation, Jee-Han probably would have helped these guys if they had just asked him.

He respected them that much.

Before Jee-Han could respond back to their pleas however, a new notification had appeared before him.

 **«A Quest has been created!»**

 **«Quest Alert: Heal the Crippled Members of the Yunhonmoon»**

 **The Yunhonmoon members who were severely injured by Sung-Gong require your skills to get back into proper shape. Use whatever methods you have to heal them.**

 **Time limit: None**

《 **Quest Reward: Exp 10,00 + Increased Trust from the Yunhonmoon + Compensation From Yunhonmoon** 》

《 **Quest Failure: Disappointment from Yunhonmoon members + Any Future Relationship Will Be Damaged** 》

《 **This is a special one-time quest and cannot be given again at a later date. If you chose to decline now, it will never become available again.** 》

《 **Do you wish to accept this quest?** 》

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

"… _Why is this thing showing up now?_ " Jee-Han was both excited and baffled on how his Quest system functioned. What was different this time? Perhaps… was it because Jee-Han needed to be a in a specific location for these quests to trigger? It was a possibility worth investing into as Jee-Han naturally clicked confirm and then patted Shi-Yun's shoulder, startling the red head.

"Leave it to me" was all he said as he walked up towards the resting man and eyed him all over. Curious as to the state of his condition, Jee-Han used『 **Observe** 』on him and analyzed his stats.

 **Name** : Sun Lu-Rai  
 **Class** : Yunhonmoon Martial Artist  
 **Title** :《Invigorated Youth》  
 **Level** : 31

 **Gender** : Male  
 **Race** : Human  
 **Next** **Level** : 3.01 %  
 **Age** : 23  
 **Attribute** : Fire

 **STR** : 66  
 **VIT** : 58  
 **DEX** : 61  
 **INT** : 29  
 **WIS** : 31  
 **LUK** : 6

 **Status** :  
•《 **Status Effect –** Bleeding (Medium)》  
•《 **Status Effect –** Critical Injury (Highest)》  
•《 **Status Effect –** Damaged Ki Flow (Medium)》

 **Background** : A proud and loyal member of the Yunhonmoon Clan who was severely injured by the Black Summoner, Hwan Sung-Gong. Watching his comrades be brutalized while powerless to stop it, he has contemplated suicide several times during his slow recovery. He is very fond of Kwon Shi-Yun and treats her like a younger sister.

 **Emotions** : Loyal, Prideful, Affectionate, Reckless

" _I've already seen the Critical Injury status but I've never seen the Bleeding or Damaged Ki Flow ones before…_ " Jee-Han, who was feeling a bit self-conscious at the questioning stares being thrown his way from the Yunhonmoon members, subtly clicked on the two present status effects.《 **Bleeding** 》caused the patient to, as you guessed, continuously bleed while reducing their HP gradually over time while《 **Critical** **Injury** 》, the one that Sun-Il had also suffered under, was the status that was involved with Lu-Rai's broken limbs and caused his body to experience severe pain for long periods of time. Finally,《 **Damaged Ki Flow** 》was a status effect that prevented an inner ki user from utilizing their ki properly, thus preventing them from internally healing their wounds. With these three current status alignments, it was practically impossible for Lu-Rai to make a recovery anytime soon, at least using any normal methods.

" _Why did Sung-Gong go this far with this guy? Sun-Il was badly hurt but nowhere near this bad…_ " Jee-Han pitied the man resting in front of him as he slowly reached his hand out and placed it over Lu-Rai's bandaged chest. Taking one final glance over towards the observing Yunhonmoon members, Jee-Han took a deep breath as he resolved himself to use the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』technique. He didn't know how they would react towards seeing him use it but since there was nothing he could do about it anymore, he just had to deal with it.

"Yunhon Soul Recovery!"

Just like with Sung-Ah, a luminous white light shined through the room as Jee-Han concentrated his magic onto Lu-Rai's chest. Ignoring the baffled looks coming from the Yunhonmoon members, he continued casting the spell until the radiant light began to dim and the room went quiet, no one uttering a word.

Whispering his『 **Observe** 』skill, Jee-Han quickly glanced at Lu-Rai's current status and smirked a bit at seeing the《 **Bleeding** 》and《 **Damaged Ki Flow** 》status having been removed. Lu-Rai's condition had noticeably improved as the bleeding coming from his wounds had all but disappeared and his breathing steadied. Not only that, a thin red aura now appeared over his body that indicated that his disturbed ki flow had been fully restored and that he was able to utilize his ki once more.

" _Two_ _down, one more to go_ " Jee-Han once again took a deep breath before reciting the spell.

"Yunhon Soul Recovery!" Jee-Han shouted, the same phenomenon from earlier occurring a second time. Once the light faded, Jee-Han nodded his head in satisfaction at the《 **Critical** **Injury** 》status effect now being removed and stepped away from the bed, turning his attention to the stupefied group standing behind him.

"He's all better now. Take a look for yourself" He was beginning to become a bit nervous at how shaken up they were about it.

"…O-Okay …" Shi-Yun was naturally skeptical of Jee-Han's claims but continued forward nonetheless, walking towards her senior brother while side glancing at Jee-Han. The matter of how exactly Jee-Han knew the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』was a topic she _desperately_ needed to speak with him about but checking up on her injured brother's condition came first.

Once she reached his side, Shi-Yun gently lifted his hand and closed her eyes, trying to search for his ki flow. Even if a person was resting or not conscious of it, once they have learned an inner ki technique, they will always steadily emit an aura from their bodies. It was a way for inner ki users to regain their strength and stamina while resting as the breathing technique taught to martial artists was always active, even during times of rest. When Lu-Rai had been crippled by Sung-Gong, his ki flow had been damaged internally, which explained why he wasn't recovering when he slept at all.

"How is it?" Shi-Sen asked his granddaughter as he walked right behind her, hopeful that the treatment had been a success.

Once Shi-Yun has finished checking for Lu-Rai's ki flow, she slowly let go of his hand as a look of bewilderment was plastered over her face and her gaze befell the anxious Jee-Han.

"He's… completely fine" Traces of both confusion and happiness were mixed within the red head's voice.

"I-Impossible…" Sun-Lai retorted as a nervous sweat fell from his face at the miracle that had just occurred. Shi-Yan and Shi-Mai, the two more laid back and carefree elders, were also sporting looks of bafflement towards what just happened.

"Boy…" Shi-Sen began as even he was a bit rattled. "…Have my ears gone bad or was it that just now, you said you used the Yunhon Soul Recovery technique?"

Knowing that there wasn't any point in hiding in any longer, Jee-Han merely nodded. "That's right"

"Preposterous!" Sun-Lai had lost his composure and yelled as the gravity of Jee-Han's actions had shaken him up. "The Yunhon Soul Recovery cannot possibly have the ability to completely heal a person with such severe injuries. If it could, we would have used it ourselves!" Not just Sun-Lai, every Yunhonmoon member knew of this as they cast suspicious gazes towards Jee-Han.

"Well that's normally true but…" Jee-Han awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "It was thanks to my powers that the technique became what it is now"

"Your powers you say?" Shi-Sen asked with interest as his curiosity towards Jee-Han's unknown and mysterious abilities continued to grow. An ability that allowed him to take a basic soul recovery technique and turn it into a skill that allowed a person to heal someone of such lethal injuries like this? In all of the years that Shi-Sen had been apart of the Abyss, this was something he had never seen before.

Shi-Yun followed her father's curiosity as she narrowed her eyes at the sophomore. "Jee-Han… how is it that you know one our clan's healing techniques? No, even before that… how is it that you're able to use that technique without knowing the『 **Yunhon Spirit Technique** 』?"

It was common sense to those in the Yunhonmoon clan that in order to use a technique like the Yunhon Soul Recovery, the Yunhon Spirit Technique was required. Shi-Yun was fairly certain that Jee-Han did not possess the Yunhon Spirit Technique as she couldn't feel any of her clan's signature ki emitting from his body. In fact, the only ki that she could faintly sense coming from him was the same ki that was used by those of the Chunbumoon. To use a Yunhonmoon technique with the Chunbu Spirit Technique? It was blasphemy of the highest order.

"Oh that…" Jee-Han sighed inwardly as he had to confess everything if he wanted them to trust him "I learned it over at the Chunbumoon. They told me that you guys exchanged skill books and so I picked it up when I went to visit Sun-Il when he was injured. As for how I can use it without knowing your clan's inner ki technique… that's also another benefit of my gaming powers" He decided to throw them a bone and at least tell them that much.

"Gaming… powers?" Shi-Sen voiced with utter confusion as he, Shi-Yun, Shi-Yan, and Sun-Lai all tilted their heads to the side in unison.

"… _Just what kind of era do these people live in?_ " It was actually kind of sad to Jee-Han how out of touch martial artists were with games. There were even fighting games for pete's sake and yet these people still didn't have a clue as to what games were? His disappointment was about to reach an all-time low before Shi-Mai's next words resonated with his soul.

"Oh, so your powers are related to gaming? What kind, RPG's or MMO's? Could it possibly be both?"

"…What... did... you... just... say?" Jee-Han thought he had heard differently as he swiftly turned his head towards Shi-Mai with wide eyes, the man himself blinking in confusion at Jee-Han's sudden gaze.

"Huh? Oh, I was just curious to know what type of games your power took after. What's the ma-woah!" Shi-Mai nearly fell to the ground at Jee-Han's sudden action as the boy grabbed the older man's hands as comical tears fell from his eyes.

"Finally… Finally someone who understands the soul of a gamer…" He couldn't be more happier to finally meet someone other than Sun-Il who knew _anything_ about games. Truly, god had not forsaken him yet.

"…Uhm, what?" Shi-Mai was at a complete loss, along with the rest of his family as they all just stood there watching Jee-Han cry for some reason, unaware that their lack of knowledge regarding any sort of video game was the source of Jee-Han's emotional distress.

"I-In any case" Shi-Sen coughed to clear the awkward and downright weird atmosphere that was going on in his home and inclined his head respectfully towards Jee-Han. "The matter of your strange powers aside, there are other patients that also require your assistance"

"Oh, right" Jee-Han faintly recalled as he looked over the several dozen hospital beds that were scattered across the room. Cracking his neck, he rolled up his sleeve and faintly smiled.

"I'll get to work then"

* * *

Thanks to his remarkable cheat like ability, it took merely half an hour for Jee-Han to completely heal all of the injured Yunhonmoon members in the room. Because the amount of mana he regained per minute was much higher than before, Jee-Han was easily able to heal dozens of people consecutively before having to take a break and then start once again, amazing all those present who were dumbstruck on the nature of Jee-Han's powers.

To heal such grave wounds surely required a lot of magic and stamina to use, as with all magicians in the world, so to see someone use healing like this so consecutively without any apparent fatigue was a matter that left the elders speechless. Their purpose was to discover more about Jee-Han's powers and evaluate whether he could be of use to the Yunhonmoon but based on today's events alone, Jee-Han had showcased a power that would be instrumental to any clan's growth. In other words, it wasn't' a matter of _if_ they should recruit him, but rather a matter of _what_ methods they could use to lure him to their side.

"You have our eternal gratitude, Han Jee-Han" Shi-Sen expressed his thanks by bowing towards Jee-Han, along with Shi-Yun and the other elders as they stood at the entrance of the Yunhonmoon Center in front of a smiling Jee-Han.

"No worries. I'm glad I could help"

Raising his head, Shi-Sen glanced at his granddaughter who nodded her head and stepped forward, carrying in her hands several red skill books that emitted a faint crimson aura as Jee-Han's excitement rose at receiving a new reward.

"As we have agreed, we have prepared your compensation. These are several of our clan's skill books that you requested and unlike the Yunhon Soul Recovery, these books are _not_ given out to outsiders but we have made a special exception for you. Consider them a gift for both healing our brethren and also saving Shi-Yun's life" It was faint but a warm smile was now present on Shi-Sen's face, one that Jee-Han had never seen before. "Please accept them"

Jee-Han nodded as he took the books from Shi-Yun and mentally pumped his fist at receiving the books that he had craved so much. Just like with the Chunbumoon, Jee-Han believed that by learning all of the Yunhonmoon skill books, he would receive the amazing passive effects he had gotten before that would help raise his stats tremendously in the future. Just imagining how much stronger he was going to get was an idea that made his mouth water. This wasn't even mentioning the generous exp he recieved for completing the quest earlier.

"Jee-Han"

Shi-Yun's sudden voice snapped Jee-Han out of his greedy thoughts as he cast his gaze towards Shi-Yun.

"What's up?"

"W-Well…" Shi-Yun stammered, a slight blush on her face at being unable to express what she was trying to say, causing Jee-Han to raise his eyebrows at her. The elders of the Yunhonmoon were also confused, well except for Shi-Yan who could understand the predicament instantly as she whispered in her granddaughter's ear.

"You want to do something for him personally to thank him right?"

Shi-Yun's blush rose as she weakly nodded her head. The fact that her grandmother had figured it out had made it even more embarrassing as Shi-Yan laughed out loud and winked at the confused Jee-Han.

"Yun-Yun over here says she wants to do something for you to repay your kindness of healing our members"

"...But you guys already gave me my reward…" Jee-Han didn't understand why she would want to go that far before Shi-Yun shook her head.

"That isn't enough to repay what you've done for us. If it wasn't for you, we would still not only be at war with Sung-Gong but also have no way of knowing how long Oppa and the others would take to recover, if it was even possible. You're not even a member of our clan… and yet you've helped us so much… please tell me if there is anything that I can do to help you!"

Jee-Han was a bit taken back by Shi-Yun's bold claim as he looked over at the elders who were smiling fondly at Shi-Yun's behavior. Clearly, this wasn't normal for her and it probably made them happy to see that she was willing to go so far for one of the few friends that she had outside of her clan.

Cupping his chin, Jee-Han thought about what kind of thing he could ask from Shi-Yun, who he knew was the stubborn type before an idea popped into his head and he offered his hand forward, confusing the flustered red head.

"Then, the next time me and Sun-Il go training again, you have to come with us this time. I won't take no for an answer"

"...A-Are you sure that's all you want? I'm... I'm willing to offer anything you want..." Shi-Yun expressed shyly with a face flushed red as she sent subtle glances towards her grinning grandmother who was giving her a thumbs up.

"… _What did that woman teach her?_ " Jee-Han had noticed those glances but pretended not too as he shook his head.

"Yes, this is all that I want. You're our friend Shi-Yun so I'll feel much more comfortable if I have another friend growing stronger with me" His lips then curved into a playful grin. "I also think it'd motivate me even more if someone as pretty as you was helping me train"

"...!"

Shi-Yun felt her face redden at the flattering comment towards her beauty and she shyly looked away to avoid showing him her embarrassed state. She could face monsters the size of sky scrapers and yet for some reason, she couldn't even look her classmate in the eye at this moment. Was this another ability of Jee-Han's mysterious power?

The elders watched the rather warm atmosphere going on between Jee-Han and Shi-Yun with a fond gaze, intent on not interrupting them. Shi-Mai and Shi-Yan found that the two of them made quite the adorable pair while Sun-Lai and Shi-Sen remained neutral but still appreciative of Jee-Han's compliment towards Shi-Yun's looks. A flash of brilliance popped into Shi-Sen's head as he contemplated using Shi-Yun's and Jee-Han's growing friendship as a way of luring Jee-Han over to the Yunhonmoon. It was definitely an idea worth considering.

After calming down a bit, Shi-Yun slowly grasped Jee-Han's outstretched hand and gave a small smile.

"If that is what you desire, then I'll certainly join you for training anytime you wish"

"Great" Jee-Han smiled, before he recalled something quite important and glanced over at Shi-Sen. "By the way sir, I'm sure you've heard by now that cleaners have shown up in this area right?"

The mood seemed to take a nose dive as a serious expression appeared over Shi-Sen's face. "Ah. Shi-Yun informed us yesterday of what had transpired. You did well to survive against them, most newly awakened ability users are not so lucky in escaping the attack of a cleaner"

"We've already begun making preparations for dealing with Cleaners that appear within this district. That said, please be careful from now on as there is no telling how many cleaners have come looking for you" Shi-Mai voiced with concern.

"Brat, don't end up getting caught you hear me?" Sun-Lai expressed with his usual indifferent attitude but he had noticeably softened up when compared to before.

Shi-Yan waved at Jee-Han with her usual welcoming demeanor. "Be safe. Stop by anytime, I'll take good care of you"

Jee-Han smiled awkwardly at their goodbye's as he nodded towards each of them before glancing at Shi-Sen and then bowing. "It was a pleasure"

Shi-Sen firmly nodded. "Likewise. Don't be a stranger and swing by anytime. These doors are always welcome to you"

Jee-Han faintly chuckled. "Will do" he said before he turned around and began walking away from the Yunhonmoon Center. Just as he was about to leave, he stopped abruptly when felt something was off and turned around, his eyes befalling the image of Sun-Lai standing there with his usual frown. The feeling Jee-Han was getting was hard to explain but he felt as if something bad was going to happen, that there was an approaching danger nearby. Just in case, he checked using『 **Sensory** 』but didn't feel anything out of place. Not even his『 **Detect** **Bloodlust** 』skill was going off, so could he have imagined it?

Jee-Han shook his head. He must have been been going crazy or something as he knew how strong the Yunhonmoon was and yet still felt worried for them. Pushing that faint dreadful feeling aside, his body finally vanished from sight as he created an Illusion Barrier and headed home.

Shi-Yun watched his retreating figure for a minute or so before being startled by her grandfather placing his hand on her shoulder unexpectedly.

"Shi-Yun. Whenever an opportunity arrives, try to invite him to join our clan" Shi-Sen stated as a surprised look formed on the girl's face.

"M-Me? But…"

"I told you didn't I? We would leave the matter of recruiting him up to you as you share the closest relationship with him out of any Yunhonmoon member"

"…T-that is true but…"

"We definitely can't let him join the Chunbumoon. That power of his is outrageous, even for a natural ability user. I'm sure any faction in the Abyss would do anything to get their hands on him" Sun-Lai chimed in. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him but just then, didn't that boy stare at him for a little bit before leaving? He didn't think much of it but it still made him a bit anxious.

"I'm more worried about the cleaner that attacked him. Shouldn't we at least send some members over to watch him at his house?" Shi-Yan asked her neutral husband who shook his head.

"No, that wouldn't go over well with the Chunbumoon who have probably already taken actions towards monitoring his movements. That crafty Sun-Oh would never let such a golden egg leave his watch" Shi-Sen chuckled before he adopted a more serious expression. "As long as we continue to monitor over Seoul, there shouldn't be any cleaners that will attempt to kidnap him. In any case, we'll worry about that when the times comes. For now, we should focus on briefing our newly healed members on the situation"

"Right" The other elders said as they followed Shi-Sen back upstairs, leaving Shi-Yun by herself who stared at the place that Jee-Han had left through for quite some time before finally following her grandparents. If there was any discomfort about being in the same clan with Jee-Han before, it was surely gone now as Shi-Yun was actually looking forward to training together with her classmate and friend. Recruiting him would prove difficult but it was a task that Shi-Yun was at least willing to try.

* * *

After Jee-Han had left the Yunhonmoon compound, he decided to head back home, discretely of course as he created an Illusion Barrier and hid behind whatever he could find to avoid detection. Once he had entered his house, he made his way to his bedroom and took off the black jacket he was wearing, throwing it over his computer chair as he lay back against his bed and stretched his body.

"I'm glad everything went well" Jee-Han voiced with a sigh of relief as he couldn't stop the growing worry in his chest that was plaguing him ever since he had fought against the Shadow Wolf. Knowing that there was someone who was probably watching him and waiting for another opportunity to strike caused his anxiety to increase and he found it difficult to even step outside without checking around every corner, even if he was in an Illusion Barrier. At least for now, he was safe and he had completed the first task he had set out to do today by getting the Yunhonmoon skill books and establishing a good relationship with them.

"They're a lot like the Chunbumoon, I really feel like I can trust them" They were a bit quirky and weird but that's what made them even more likable to Jee-Han and he truly did wish to deepen his relationship with them. Still, that feeling he had gotten before was something he couldn't completely ignore as he truly wondered why he felt it. In any case, there was an even more important matter at hand as a wide smirk appeared over Jee-Han's face and he quickly reached into his inventory, pulling out the several red books he had received from the Yunhonmoon.

"It's time to learn these bad boys" Jee-Han smiled, raising up the first and most important skill book first; the『 **Yunhon Spirit Technique** 』. It was an inner ki technique that was identical to the『 **Chunbu Spirit Technique** 』that was the founding principle towards using Yunhon skills. Of course, with Jee-Han's gaming powers, he didn't actually _need_ this skill but the passives he had received from the Chunbumoon's inner ki technique were simply too beastly for him to pass up on and he hoped that he would receive the same benefits from this one.

 **You've obtained the skill book** 『 **Yunhon Spirit Technique** 』!

 **Would you like to learn the skill?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

Choosing confirm, Jee-Han's eyes widened at the new message that appeared, one that he faintly recalled seeing before at the Chunbumoon dojo.

 **Due to already knowing the** 『 **Chunbu** **Spirit Technique** 』 **, a detrimental effect may appear if you learn this skill.**

 **Would you still like to learn the skill?**

"...Didn't I see this notification before when I tried to learn that other breathing technique?" Jee-Han could vividly remember the memory of Sun-Oh giving him a book labelled the『 **Self-Enhancement Breathing Technique** 』that also caused this notification to appear. The old man didn't elaborate on the meaning but Jee-Han at the time believed he was simply not ready to learn another inner ki technique and didn't. However, he was much stronger now so surely he could use it right?

"Detrimental means harmful… will that mean that I'll suffer some damage?" It truly was a bizarre message that Jee-Han was conflicted on approaching. In the end, he shrugged and believed that he would be fine as his gaming powers hadn't let him down before and so he clicked confirm to learn the skill.

『 **Yunhon Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) LVL: 1 EXP: 0.00 %**』

 **An inner Ki technique developed by the leaders of the Yunhonmoon. This inner ki technique allows the user to purify the natural ki that flows through the world and ignite it within their bodies to set their souls ablaze.**

 **Passively Increases STR, DEX, and VIT by 20 %.**

 **Passive: Grants a 10% damage bonus to all Yunhon Soul Techniques**

 **Active: Allows the user to utilize** 『 **Soul Blaze Arts** 』

"Woah…" Jee-Han felt his body undergo a noticeable change as a thin crimson aura now swirled around his body like a snake, indicating that his inner ki had firmly grasped the Yunhon Spirit technique. The『 **Soul Blaze Arts** 』that Shi-Yun used were also installed into Jee-Han as he raised his hand and concentrated, utilizing the『 **Spirit Channel** 』to tap into his SP bar and after a few seconds, created a small flame within his hands.

"Oh man, this is just too freaking awesome" Jee-Han exclaimed excitedly at having pulled off the new skill. It was clearly different from basic fire magic as Jee-Han didn't feel any sort of heat emitting from the flames and noted that the size and power was much too weak to do anything right now. However, with enough grinding, he would have gained a stellar new offensive weapon.

"Now then, let's learn the others" Jee-Han picked up the remaining Yunhon Skill Books and learned them each one by one.

 **You've learned the [Yunhon Martial Arts Technique]!**

 **You've learned the [Yunhon Outer Ki Technique]!**

 **You've learned the [Yunhon Foot Technique]!**

 **You have learned all of the Yunhonmoon basic martial arts techniques.**

 **Skill set effect is activated.**

 **STR, VIT, and DEX are increased by 2.**

"Just like I thought" Jee-Han smirked at the new notification, glad that his idea of picking up these skill books had not gone to waste. Having now learned both the Yunhonmoon and Chunbumoon basic skills, his potential stat growth in the future would be outrageous if he kept leveling their respective breathing techniques. Following that train of thought, a curious idea popped into Jee-Han's head as he stood in the center of his bedroom.

"I wonder what would happen if I try used them both at the same time?" Jee-Han's endless curiosity was beginning to get the better of him as the benefits of activating one Spirit Technique was already massive, but what if he tried activating a second one? Sun-Oh had warned him that while a human could learn up to two inner ki techniques, using more than one at the same time was impossible and highly dangerous. He _didn't_ however, mention if someone like Jee-Han whose powers defied the laws of nature themselves used this method and Jee-Han was sure nothing bad would happen as his powers had never let him down so far when it came to attempting dangerous risks.

"Alright, let's give it a try" Jee-Han said as he took a deep breath and steeled himself for what was about to happen. It was actually becoming quite nerve wracking trying to imagine the result of activating two breathing techniques at the same time.

"Chunbu Spirit Technique!" He started with this one first as his body was enveloped in a lime green aura, the muscles in his body now hardening in the process. Once the aura had settled around Jee-Han's body, he took one last deep breath before he proceeded with the next phase of his plan.

"And now, Yunhon Spirit Technique!" Jee-Han shouted, the crimson aura of the Yunhonmoon clan also appearing to coil around his body. The two separate aura's clashed with one another as Jee-Han's body began to violently shake at the sheer pressure and magnitude of activating simultaneous inner ki techniques.

"This is...! A-Amazing!" Jee-Han could feel an unbelievable rush of energy coursing through his body and he felt as if he could take on anyone at this moment. However, that joyous feeling soon vanished as the next notification that appeared before him left him utterly speechless.

 **You have attempted to activate two compatible Inner Ki Techniques at the same time, causing a rift to occur within your body. These two Inner Ki Techniques cannot exist separately within the same body and so they shall be assimilated into one.**

 **You have been inflicted with the** 《 **Energy Overflow** 》 **S** **tatus! You are unable to utilize Mana/Ki/Chi for 30 minutes.**

 **You have been inflicted with the** 《 **Critical** **Injury** 》 **S** **tatus! Your body has undergone serious injury and will gradually continue to lose HP.**

 **You have been affected with the** 《 **Crippled** 》 **Status! Your body has ended up in a critical state. Your HP, MP, SP, and Stamina shall be reduced to 5 % of their original states.**

 **Time Remaining: 30 minutes**

"The fuck!?"

Jee-Han had absolutely no clue as to what was going on as he immediately felt his body grew several times heavier than before, followed by an immeasurable amount of pain that filled his body as he coughed up blood and collapsed on the floor.

"Wh...Wha..." He couldn't even muster up the strength to scream as his lungs felt as if they were jammed and his eyesight began to blur. Hiss mind was in a state of panic as he tried to get a grasp of the situation as he felt his body go weaker by the second and that his HP was not only low, but also dropping fast by the second.

" _What the hell is going on here!?"_ Jee-Han thought direly as his heart began to speed up and drips of sweat fell from his face at the predicament he had gotten himself into. His body became crippled and his mana was sealed for a set duration, meaning that he was stuck like this for the next thirty or so minutes. This was the absolute worst outcome that could have possibly happened after attempting to activate two Inner Ki techniques and Jee-Han cursed his stupid curiosity for getting himself into this situation.

That said, he could blame himself for this mess later as his current priority was to stay alive at all costs, no matter if he had to use everything in his arsenal to do so.

* * *

 **A/N: Woah! I bet most of you guys didn't expect that ending huh? So, we finally see the repercussions of Jee-Han's actions as the game he's playing won't just allow him to use two inner ki techniques for free like that. Since his body is automatically combining them as they are compatible, he'll have to endure the entire process as he tries to stay alive. That's not going to be a very funny experience for him is it?** **On the matter of Sung-Gong, he's trying to track down the person who made Abel sell him the Illusion Barrier and his trail leads him to Jackal. I'm sure you're all wondering how Jackal is involved in this but you'll soon find out as you'll learn more about what kind of individual they truly are.**

 **As for the Yunhonmoon, Jee-Han was finally able to heal their crippled members and we got to see some more interactions between the elders, who are some of my favorites to write, especially Shi-Mai with his gamer like personality just like Jee-Han. That moment where Jee-Han felt something bad about to happen to the Yunhonmoon, I wonder what that was about? Maybe something will happen?**

 **Anyway, thanks again all of you who continue to read this story and have been patient with me on the updates. I really appreciate you all.**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class** : The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Killer of Goblins》  
 **Level** : 35 (↑3 UP)

 **Element** **Affinity** :  
• **Nature** \- 20 (↑2 UP)  
• **Earth** \- 83 (↑3 UP)  
• **Darkness** \- 12 (↑2 UP)

 **HP** : 108/2160  
 **MP** : 235/4710  
 **SP** : 17/350

 **STR** : 43 (↑6 UP)  
 **VIT** : 50 (↑6 UP)  
 **DEX** : 46 (↑8 UP)  
 **INT** : 71 (↑1 UP)  
 **WIS** : 72 (↑1 UP)  
 **LUK** : 50

 **Equipment** :  
• Accessory - (Azure Ring)  
• Accessory - (Dawn Ring)

 **Points** : 33  
 **Money** : 10,175,006

* * *

 **Skills**

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) Lv: 2  
• Mana Arrow (Active) Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) Lv: 3 « **1 UP** **»**  
• Vine Control (Active) Lv: 4 «↑ **2 UP»  
** • Meteor Shot (Active) Lv: 5 « **1 UP** **»** **  
**• Vine Drain (Active) Lv: 2

 **Defensive:  
** • Mana Shield (Active) Lv: 8 **«** ↑ **3 UP»  
** • Steel Skin (Active) Lv: 3 **«NEW»**

 **Support:  
** • Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) Lv: 10 **«** ↑ **4 UP»** **  
**• Observe (Active) Lv: 19 **«** ↑ **3** **UP»** **  
**• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 14  
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 3  
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 10  
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 14  
• Yunhon Spirit Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 1 **«NEW»  
** • Yunhon Martial Arts Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 1 **«NEW»  
** • Yunhon Foot Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 1 **«NEW»  
** • Yunhon Outer Ki Technique (Passive Active) Lv: 1 **«NEW»  
** • Spirit Channel (Active) Lv: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) Lv: MAX  
• Replication (Active) Lv: 8 **«** ↑ **2 UP»  
** • Stone Lotus Style (Passive) Lv: 3

 **Resistances and Masteries:  
** • Physical Endurance (Passive) Lv: 14 **«** ↑ **3 UP** **»  
** • Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) Lv: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) Lv: 5 **«** ↑ **2 UP** **»**  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) Lv: 5 **«** ↑ **2 UP** **»**  
• Earth Magic Mastery (Passive Active) Lv: MAX

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active) Lv: 10 **«** ↑ **2 UP»  
** • ID Escape (Active) Lv: 9 **«** ↑ **2 UP»  
** • Shadow Step (Active) Lv: 3 **«** ↑ **2 UP** **»**


	19. (Arc 2) Chapter 19

**A/N: I bet none of you guys expected that I'd update this soon again right? Haha, I was planning on making an April Fool's joke by updating yesterday with a parody type chapter but scrapped that as I'm sure none of you guys would enjoy it lol. Anyway, here's Chapter 19 folks and we're getting to the good stuff as we're going to learn a bit more about Paradise along with seeing how Jee-Han will survive against the fusion of the spirit techniques. Ooh, and the ending of this chapter will really make your feet curl in excitement at Jee-Han's next boss fight so look forward to that.**

 **REMINDER!**

 **You can find some avatars of the OC' that I've made for the story by going to my DeviantART page by googling "TheBlackDuelist".**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 19**

" _Pant_... _Pant..._ "

A figure was seen hastily running through an endless amount of corners within a deserted alley way. They didn't care who or what was in their way as they clumsily tripped over trash cans and scraped themselves again a few metal objects that they passed by in the midst of their escape. Once they passed another corner, a sense of dread washed over them as they met face to face with a large brick wall that stretched several feet into the air and prevented any further escape.

It was a dead end.

"Shit! _"_ The man cursed under his breath as he looked in all directions to find a solution. He was a young man who appeared to be in his mid twenties and had an unremarkable and unkempt appearance, no doubt an effect of trying to escape without the slightest care for maintaining his appearance.

The moment he was about to turn around and start sprinting in another direction...

"Have you finally stopped running? Good good, I don't like to chase mice around all day~"

It was a voice that oozed both playfulness and dread as the terrified man felt chills all over his body and slowly turned his head. It seemed that whatever he had been running from had finally caught up to him as the figure of a silver haired man smiling towards him came into his view.

Instinctively, the man backed up and found his back against the wall as he took a few deep breaths and watched the silver haired man continue to smile playfully at him. That disgusting smile that made his skin crawl, he almost wanted to puke when he saw it.

" _Fucking monster..._ "

That was the only thing going through this man's head as he glared daggers at the silver haired man, prompting him to frown a bit as he tilted his head innocently to the side.

"Now now, why are you making such an angry face? Are you still mad about what I did to your girlfriend? It couldn't be helped, she wasn't willing to cooperate peacefully so..." A malicious grin curved onto the man's face as he said his next words "...I had to get a little rough with her"

It was then that the silver haired man raised one of his arms that was holding onto something, or rather _someone_ , as the body of a bloodied and heavily bruised woman was seen being held up by her dirtied orange hair. Her clothes were shredded and she had multiple cuts all over her slender body, each one infuriating the man in front of him even further.

" _Bastard...!_ " The young man growled as he couldn't erase the horrific sight he had just witnessed not too long ago. His beautiful girlfriend that he had been on a date with was brutally beaten by the man- no, _monster_ standing before him. It wasn't so much the fact that his girlfriend was beaten that made him angry but the fact that the man, no _monster_ , standing before him was planning to do the same thing to him for apparently no reason at all, outside of his own twisted personality.

"J-Just what the hell do you want from me!" The man desperately shouted.

The silver haired man only shrugged at the question directed towards him.

"Wasn't it already obvious? An ability user such as yourself should already be well aware of why I've come after you. Isn't that right, my _dear_ Chang-Hee..."

"A-Ability user?" Chang-Hee repeated in a confused tone, his eyes flinching when the man had addressed him by name despite him never having given it out. He already had a good idea as to why the man in front of him had pursued him but didn't want to believe it as his forehead began to sweat profusely.

" _Shit, how the hell did he know about my power?_ _I never told anyone about it, not even my family or even my girlfriend...and he also knows my name...has this bastard been stalking me?_ "

Chang-Hee wouldn't put it past the creepy bastard but squashed that thought for now as he had more pressing concerns at the moment. The man in front of him seemed to have no intentions of killing him as far as he could tell since he had plenty of opportunities to do so but had instead opted to chase him around like a game of cat and mouse. That at least meant that he wasn't in danger of being killed but that didn't make him feel any better as a dark thought passed through Chang-Hee's mind.

" _...Just what exactly will happen to me if I get caught by that guy?_ "

The only thing that Chang-Hee could imagine was a fate even worse than death. Clenching his sweaty fists, Chang-Hee made a decision as he raised both of his hands into the air.

"Y-You win, I won't escape anymore alright? Isn't that... what you wanted?"

"Ooh!" The silver haired man exclaimed with interest as he found the new development amusing. He immediately dropped the body of the bruised woman onto the ground and nodded his head in understanding.

"So you're surrendering? That's a bit disappointing but it's still fun in its own way~"

Chang-Hee had no idea what the psychopath in front of him was babbling about but paid it no mind as he slowly watched the man approach him. He was still smiling that disgusting smile of his and Chang-Hee inwardly mocked him.

" _That's right bitch, just a bit further..._ "

The only choice Chang-Hee had at this point was to use his power to distract him for an instant and then escape as far as he could. The only thing that he was worried about was that if the man in front of him was aware of both his name and the fact that he was an ability user, then would he also know exactly what power he had?

It was the difference between being able to catch him off guard for a second or simply wasting both his and the man's time. A nervous sweat fell from his face as the man inched one step closer, just a few short steps away from his location. Once the silver haired man took another step, Chang-Hee quickly crouched down and placed his hand onto the surface of the floor he was standing on.

"As if I'd ever go anywhere with you, asshole!" Chang-Hee shouted, concentrating a great of his mana into the center of his palm as the ground beneath him began to shake. The silver haired man had stopped walking momentarily as his gaze shifted downwards, a curious look on his face.

" _Heh, dumbass_ " That was all the validation Chang-Hee needed to know that this guy had no clue what his power was as if he did, he would have jumped back immediately. Once the mana had finished gathering in his palm, he pushed it into the ground and as he did so, the ground that the silver haired man was standing on began to morph into that of a mud swamp and slowly pulled him into its depths.

"Hahaha, how's that you retard! You actually think I'd willing go with a nut job like you? Now sink into my『 **Muddy World** 』and suffocate you lunatic!"

A desperate laugh came from Chang-Hee as he watched the man in front of him slowly descend into his『 **Muddy World** 』. It was a rather strange ability that Chang-Hee had discovered he possessed a few months ago when he was gardening in his backyard. The ability to use his mana to change the properties of any earth substance into mud, he dubbed it as Muddy World. Perhaps it was because Chang-Hee was always playing in the mud when he was a kid and loved the feeling of it even still as a young adult that he was bestowed such a weird but nifty ability by God.

"I _t might not be as appealing as other super powers but thanks to this bad boy, I was able to get rid of all those assholes that used to bully me in high school..._ "

Chang-Hee still clearly remembered that memory; the moment he took revenge against as those jocks that used to torment him in high school as they begged and cried for help as they were dragged into his Muddy World. He initially didn't intend to take it that far at the time but back then, he couldn't control his power properly and had no idea how to bring them back up from the swamp, causing them to suffocate. A harmless prank had turned into a putrid murder and Chang-Hee had run away, trying to justify his actions in his own head. It was the only way to cope with the guilt of having killed several mostly innocent people.

Since then, Chang-Hee had spent countless hours honing his ability so that he could properly control it and after a few months, Chang-Hee had been able to perfectly control his power and regulate who or what he wanted to trap. With this power, he had no trouble acquiring anything he wanted as he robbed and stole from the wealthy, inside Illusion Barrier's of course as Chang-Hee was fully aware of Gaia's iron law regarding the limitations of using your powers in the real world. That law had a loophole however as while you were forbidden from using your powers in the real world in a public way, it didn't mean you weren't allowed to target clueless people with your powers and steal from right under their noses.

With the money he gained, it was a breeze to snag himself a gorgeous girlfriend as looks didn't matter all that much when you had enough money to buy a Ferrari. He had money and he had woman, everything was going perfect for Chang-Hee, at least until the smiling bastard in front of him showed up and threw joyous lifestyle straight to hell.

With a murderous expression now on his face, Chang-Hee felt no remorse towards suffocating the psychopath in front of him as he watched the silver haired man continue to fall into his Muddy World with the same smile as usual. At that smile, Chang-Hee clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Tch, cocky bastard. You won't be smiling for long after your lungs are filled up with mud" He released even more mana and the mud began to suck in the silver haired man even faster. After seeing that, Chang-Hee slowly stood up and walked a few steps so that he was in front of the almost submerged man.

"You know, now that the tables have turned... I have no idea why I was so afraid of you in the first place" Arrogance poured out of Chang-Hee's mouth as he smugly looked down on the crazy man in front of him and spit in his direction. The saliva landed on the man's cheek as Chang-Hee then proceeded to step on his face, while using it as a springboard to make it to the other side where he had run in from.

Once he landed, he turned around and laughed a bit.

"What a shame. You came here to capture me and yet you're the one who's been captured. I hope you enjoy the last remaining seconds of your disgusting life" He intended for those to be his last few words to the man as he turned around and noticed the barely twitching woman lying on the ground.

"Oh right, this girl... tch, well she's useless now anyway. Whatever, I can always get another one anyway with my power hehe" He licked his lips thinking about his next target but before he could think about it any further, he heard a chilling voice from where the man he had trapped was still at.

"...Sorry boss, it looks like holding myself back is really impossible after all"

"Huh?"

Chang-Hee looked back to see what the man was spouting off but felt his heart stop when he no longer saw the target submerged in the mud.

"What!? Where the hell did he..."

"Pst, over here"

Chang-Hee immediately darted his head back forward, the color of his face draining when he saw the silver haired man standing only a few steps in front of him with that same smile from before. While the shock of seeing him escape from his Muddy World was something he could understand, something else had frozen Chang-Hee's senses as he could no longer feel anything from his right arm. His eyes slowly drifted over towards his right shoulder and to his horror, his entire right arm was missing as a ridiculous amount of blood flowed onto the ground.

"AHHHHH!" Chang-Hee roared in utter despair as he clutched onto his arm, the pain only now having reached his system as he fell onto the ground. It wasn't making any sense, when had he lost his arm? Did the psychopath in front of him really have enough time to escape from his Muddy World and then cut off his arm in less than a few seconds?

Chang-Hee didn't have much time to contemplate his thoughts as he felt a heavy pressure on the back of his neck as his head immediately fell forward and crashed roughly onto the hard floor, his nose breaking at the sudden impact. A stream of blood fell from his crushed nose as a few specs of dirt had entered his mouth and he twisted his head a bit to look up at the silver haired man pressing his boots into his face.

"You know, I _really_ wanted to take it easy on you but you just had to go and make me mad~"

"You fucking- urgh!"

Chang-Hee tried to curse at the man but lost that chance as his face was kicked in again as a few of his teeth were now sprawled out across the ground.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it so would you mind speaking up?"

Chang-Hee wisely chose to remain silent as the silver haired man shrugged his shoulders and threw away the chopped off arm he was holding. He then shook one of his hands that was covered in blood and picked up Chang-Hee by his hair. He pulled it up so that he was now face to face with him before smiling once again and then ramming it into a nearby wall with tremendous force.

 ** _SPLAT!_**

The wall was now edged in blood as the man still held Chang-Hee by his hair and brought his face up again, now bloodied and broken like the woman who was on the ground. Tears had now formed on Chang-Hee's unrecognizable face as he didn't want to endure this torture anymore but couldn't speak due to all of the dirt and blood that was stuck in his mouth.

"There, that's good~" The man smiled even wider than usual as he brought his face next to Chang-Hee's ear.

"That's the look I always want to see when I crush an ant beneath my feet. Don't worry though, I'm going to be taking _good_ care of you from now on"

Just as the silver haired man appeared to have something else planned to do to the bloodied Chang-Hee, a beeping sound vibrated around his ear as the silver haired man clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Tch... what rotten timing"

Nonetheless, he dropped Chang-Hee's head onto the ground and raised his hand to press a device attached to his ear and spoke.

"What's up, boss~?"

Of course, the person on the other end was none other than Paradise's acting leader, Krash Nillux.

" _Mellow, have you finished your assignment?_ "

"Pretty much~" Mellow responded coolly as he quickly glanced at the bloodied woman and crying Chang-Hee before speaking again. "Although, a few of the targets weren't exactly cooperative this time around so I had to play with them a bit more to make them obedient"

"... _Ugh..."_

Mellow had to hold back a childish laugh from his boss' groan on the other end as he knew how much he hated it when he had his "fun time" with any of the targets. Really, it was a reaction that he couldn't get enough of!

"... _A_ _s long as you didn't damage them to the point that they can't be healed by magic then I'll overlook it_ "

"And that's why I love you the most boss~"

" _Shut up. Anyway, I need you to return back to the hideout immediately. Aaron has finished his scouting of the primary target and will report his findings to the rest of the team. Don't be late"_

The silver haired man, also known as Mellow, felt a bit annoyed that his play time had to be postponed but relented as he knew disobeying orders was not in his best interests.

At least for now anyway.

"You got it, boss~"

Once the communication ended, Mellow heaved a heavy sigh as he took in the pitiful appearance of Chang-Hee and his apparent girlfriend with a somewhat satisfied expression.

"Well, this should be enough for today. It sucks that I can't play with these toys a bit more but orders are orders. Can't damage the merchandise too much, otherwise the boss would get mad at me"

Mellow bent down and roughly picked up the head of Chang-Hee who was barely still conscious, now walking out of the alley way to go and reunite with his team as an interesting thought occurred in his head.

" _I wonder how much fun I'll be able to have with the primary target this time around... ooh, my body can't stop shaking in excitement. I hope he doesn't break too easily..._ "

There was absolutely no way that anyone who saw this man's smile would think that he had good intentions as he and the body he was carrying disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

The other four members of Paradise were gathered together in a large and spacious warehouse as a heavy frown was seen on Krash's face. He was holding a cigarette and breathed out a puff of smoke as he sat on an empty crate and checked his watch. He had sent Mellow the message to return to the hideout over an hour ago.

"He's late..."

The other members all shrugged. This didn't come as a surprise to them; Mellow cared nothing for being punctual and would always arrive whenever he pleased. The only thing that prevented Krash from punishing such tardiness was Mellow's unquestionable skill that had been pivotal towards Paradise's successful ventures.

"What's that idiot doing. I bet he's become engrossed in that disgusting hobby of his" Aaron snarled as he was the most impatient member of the team and hated wasting time more than anyone else.

"Shouldn't we just get on with the briefing? One of us can just tell him about it later" Jade suggested with a much more professional attitude as she crossed her legs while also sitting on a crate.

"I agree!" Ana threw her hand into the air. If she was bothered by Mellow's tardiness, she clearly didn't show it.

Pondering the idea for a moment, Krash finally relented as he nodded his head.

"Very well. Then Aaron, tell us what you-

Krash didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as the sound of the warehouse door being slid open alerted the four Paradise members inside as they drew their attention to the entrance. Mellow was standing before them, carrying four large bags, each the size of an average human and splattered in blood, over his shoulders with his usual smile.

"Sorry I'm late everyone~ I thought it would be alright if I spent some extra time... cleaning up"

None of the other members uttered a response to Mellow as they all narrowed their eyes at the smudge of blood covering his face and across his body suit. They already had an idea as to what he was up to but kept it to themselves as they watched him enter the warehouse.

Mellow dropped the four bags as if they were a sack of potatoes and then reached into his pocket, pulling out four photographs as he threw them towards Krash who caught them.

"Mission accomplished boss~ Excluding the primary target, I've captured all of the natural ability users on the list. Aren't I just amazing?" Mellow smiled even brighter as the other Paradise members remained quiet but had no choice but to praise Mellow's exceptional skill in capturing ability users. If it was left up to them, it would have taken over a week to track them all down but he had finished it in less than 48 hours. Clearly, he wasn't the ace of Paradise for nothing.

That all said...

" _Why does he have to have such a messed up personality?_ " Krash rubbed the temples on his forehead and offered his sympathy for the ability users that were unfortunate enough to cross paths with Mellow. Though he didn't really have the right to speak on sympathy as he was actively selling these people into slavery, he believed no one should have to suffer through one of Mellow's torture sessions.

"Good work" It was a dry compliment "I'll contact the clients later and have them pick up the merchandise. Seeing as how you've probably already destroyed their will to live, we can just leave them there and have the clients bind them when they arrive"

"Okay~" Mellow shrugged as if not caring that Krash didn't appreciate his hard work as he jumped onto one of the crates and laid himself back against the surface, yawning as he covered his mouth "Now that the trash is taken care of, can we start now? We don't have all day you know?"

" _Says the one that was late_!" Every member outside of Mellow and Krash retorted in their minds but knew that their words would be lost on him and looked back at Krash. He sighed but nonetheless, nodded regardless before turning to Aaron.

"Aaron, brief us on your encounter with the primary target"

"...Right"

It was a hesitant response but Krash paid it no mind as he, along with the other four members, listened to Aaron's retelling of his encounter with the ability user the group was primarily searching for. Aside from his personal fascination towards the woman who was aiding the target, Aaron didn't leave out a single detail and concluded his report as the other members analyzed the information.

"I see, so he's a caster type. I should have expected as much" Krash said as he puffed out another air of smoke. It was common for newly awakened ability users to lean towards becoming magic casters as opposed to fighting in close combat quarters. It was much safer to attack from afar and protect their own lives than to foolishly risk trying to get in close, this was how most if not all rookie's in the Abyss thought.

"While I'm not completely certain, I believe there's a high chance that the target's ability is somehow related towards his ability to cast magic" Aaron theorized.

"Perhaps his ability is Magic Amplifier?" Jade asked.

« **Magic Amplifier** » was a 3rd Tier ability that belonged to many inhabitants of the Abyss. The effects of the ability were to enhance the mana quality of the user by a certain amount and allow for magic casters to produce magic far stronger than the average mage. Though it wasn't a top class ability, it was certainly a power that all mages coveted and wished to get their hands on.

However, Mellow shook his head at her hypothesis.

"There's no way it can be that. You heard from wolf boy right? That despite receiving several critical injuries across his body, he was still able to function and didn't seem to be in pain"

"Hmm..." Jade cupped her chin, having momentarily forgotten that piece of information. Ignoring injuries was certainly possible but it would require a spell such as『 **Fortitude** 』or『 **Iron Will** 』to make that possible and from what Aaron had said, he hadn't cast any spells of that nature. At least, not visibly.

"The information we got from Jackal makes it even more confusing as it stated he was capable of utilizing a javelin of flame. Which means that Earth Magic isn't the only magic he is proficient in" Krash reminded them as they all heavily frowned.

"Earth Magic, Fire Magic, and even being able to shrug off grave wounds... just what kind of freak are we dealing with here?" Aaron spoke with an unpleasant expression. Even though he had been the one to scout out Jee-Han's powers, it seemed the more they learned about him the stranger he became.

"Well, that doesn't really matter does it? All we have to do is capture him and that'll be that" It was Ana's turn to speak this time as her simplistic view of the situation had both a positive and negative effect on the group's atmosphere.

"You big idiot!" Aaron shouted as he planted both his knuckles into Ana's head and twisted them "Did you forget the _last_ time we tried something like that?"

"Ow-wow-wow-wow! That really really hurts Aaron-chin!" Ana pleaded as she could never endure one of Aaron's legendary knuckle fists.

"Then don't just mouth off like that then" Aaron finally decided to let go of the blue haired girl as she pouted and held her throbbing head.

Jade seemed to watch the scene in faint amusement while Mellow shrugged his shoulder with an indifferent attitude. Only Krash remained impassive as he looked at the ceiling and narrowed his eyes. The reason why they hadn't just banded together and ambushed the main target was a story from a few years ago that was still fresh in his mind.

" _We were almost annihilated because of false information..._ "

Paradise, at the time, were still in the growing stages of their business and had only recently become famous throughout the Abyss. In their attempt to spread their name further, they had received information from a trusted source that an ability user of the 2nd tier was close by and luckily, all five members were gathered. What they thought would be an easy jackpot turned out to be a near fatal mission that almost ended in complete annihilation as the rookie they were supposed to capture wasn't a rookie at all but instead a veteran Abyss dweller posing as a rookie. He had made a deal with the Broker and together with numerous other ability users, planned to eliminate the rising Paradise from the Cleaner business.

" _We almost didn't make it, but we learned a crucial lesson that day_ " Krash bitterly smiled as he turned back to his four comrades. They would never trust information on a target unless it absolutely came from someone that the boss, himself, had deemed as trustworthy. Since that time, Krash had weeded out all of the informants that he believed he could trust and those that were aiming for him and kept a close inner circle of individuals that he received all info from. In this instance, the Broker this time was Jackal and Krash knew that if anyone was trustworthy, it was him... despite his bizarre outfit and personality. That said, he could never be too careful as he coughed to clear away his memories of the past and then spoke to his four associates.

"It's just like Aaron said. Even though the information on the target comes from a reliable source, we absolutely do not want to make the same mistake as we did before and so we will proceed with caution" Krash then jumped off of the crate he was sitting on and reached into his black overcoat, pulling out a small silver sphere as he clicked on one of the buttons on the bottom. The gadget then produced a blinding green light that aimed at the ceiling as it then transformed into a holographic map of Seoul with multiple red dots all over.

"I've already scouted out the entire city and as you can see clearly from this map, the area's that the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon cover are coincidentally the area's that the target frequently take when he heads to school"

"Tch, so those pests are actively protecting him then?" Aaron growled.

"We can only assume as such. It seems their relationship with him has drastically improved from what Jackal has told us as the Yunhonmoon especially have been more active in covering his movements"

"What's the plan then? Do we have to draw him out of those specific area's?" Mellow inquired with an interested gaze. He was more than willing to volunteer for the position of that role.

Unfortunately, Krash denied him that opportunity as he shook his head.

"No, we won't use that tactic. Even if we did lure him out to a desolate location, those martial artists will probably come to his rescue. If we're going to capture him, we're going to have to distract the clan's, so much so that even when he's in danger they won't be able to lend their aid to him"

Following that, Krash focused his attention over to Aaron who recieved his gaze with a surprised look.

"Aaron, I want you to continue monitoring the primary target's movements but at the same time, I need you to also scout out the security around these specific area's. For what I have planned, I need to know where the weakest gap in the security lies between these two clan's"

Aaron nodded without hesitation as he was determined to complete his assignment.

"Got it"

With Aaron taken care of, Krash's eyes then moved onto Mellow.

"You'll be moving with me from now on. Any problems?"

Mellow couldn't seem to be happier as he smiled widely at Krash's new orders.

"Understood~"

Krash didn't look all that happy regarding Mellow's smile but ignored that as his gaze befell the last two members of Paradise, Anna and Jade and inquired of the current progress of their assignments.

"How have your infiltrations been going?"

Anna was the first to respond as she grinned and threw both her arms behind her back, her excitement and amusement plain to see.

"Great! That girl, Sae-chin is awfully strong and quite competitive. She'll make a pretty cool rival from now on, at least until the mission is over" Even if she wasn't ordered to hang around Sae-Young, Anna would have done so regardless as she did genuinely find her company to be pleasant as they were so similar that it kind of scared her.

Jade was the next to speak as she brushed a strand of her luscious golden locks out of her face and crossed both her arms, her bountiful cleavage now in full view as she showed off a dazzling necklace hanging around her neck "It was pitifully simple to get the main doctor to give me a position of assistant nurse" Jade's skill in the art of seduction wasn't feared for nothing as it only took a few short minutes of sweet talking the man to get what she wanted.

That said, no matter how attractive Jade was, there was a limit to what she could accomplish using only her looks and a certified doctor would never just give out such classified information to some random stranger. At least, not if that stranger wasn't wearing the mind controlling necklace that was hung around Jade's slim neck. Because the necklace stretched down into Jade's cleavage, getting men to look into it while not being aware of its effects was a trivial matter for the blonde due to the necklace's powerful charm effect.

"Did you find out anything regarding the relationship between the target and that girl Aaron mentioned in the report?"

Jade's smile widened at her boss' question as she nodded.

"Naturally. Their relationship is much more complicated than we thought as it turns out, the target was able to cure her of a fatal illness just a few days ago and trusts him unconditionally. Really, it was quite adorable watching her speak so fondly of him"

"Eh? He can even heal people too?" Mellow showed genuine surprise for the first time since he entered the warehouse as he ignored Jade's mention of the relationship between the two and only focused on the information regarding the target's mysterious power.

"No doubt about it then, he must have a 1st tier ability" Krash concluded as he blew out another cloud of smoke and looked pleased by the revelation. They were called in to capture a rare catch and now that they were able to confirm that he possessed an ability that had the properties of being in the highest category, they were certain that the trip here was worth it.

"Did she say anything else?"

Jade shook her head.

"Unfortunately, she didn't speak much on anything else regarding the target. She might have some resistance to mind control, which would indicate that her mental fortitude is incredible and so I believe I'll have to spend more time with her to get any more information out of her... fufufu" It was a task that Jade was thoroughly going to enjoy as a seductive laugh came out of her mouth.

"Alright" Krash nodded, ignoring Jade's suspicious laugh as he already judged that the information they had gotten so far had been sufficient for the next stage of their plans "I want the two of you to continue your assignments. Close the distance between you and your targets, it will be instrumental in the plan that I have"

"You got it!"

"Roger that"

Jade and Anna were as happy as could be with their orders but Krash didn't care much at all for their excitement. As long as they did their jobs, he didn't mind if they formed "bonds" with their targets, since in the end, those bonds would be torn eventually.

"Then, I'll be taking my leave" Krash began as he turned to leave the warehouse to wherever it was he was going "Mellow, I'll inform you of when I need you so remain on standby for n-

"Boss, wait a moment"

Before he could make his exit however, an unexpected voice called out to him as Krash looked back to see Aaron standing in front of the other members with a desperate expression on his face.

Curious as to why Aaron would call out to him at this moment, Krash raised his eyebrows.

"...What is it?"

Based on his facial expression, it was clear that _something_ was eating away at Aaron as Krash turned to look at the others but they all shrugged, indicating that they had no idea either.

"Spit it out already" Krash didn't like to waste time and wanted to begin working on his preparations as quickly as he could.

A few more seconds passed without a word before Aaron finally stepped forward with a determined gaze.

"...I know this might not be the right to ask this but... has there been any new information regarding my sister?"

"..."

An uncomfortable silence passed inside of the warehouse as it became dead quiet at Aaron's words and his gaze remained firmly on Krash, the latter of whom had furrowed his brows at his subordinates unexpected question.

" _...Why is he bringing that up now?_ "

The subject of Aaron's sister was a topic he didn't like discussing, especially in the midst of such an important mission and he merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing new has popped up. Why are you asking that now?"

"...N-No reason... forget I said anything. If you'll excuse me..."

Aaron quickly let the matter go as he avoided Krash's gaze and walked away from the group, leaving the rest of Paradise to ponder over Aaron's sudden actions.

"That's strange... Aaron-chin usually never asks about his sister when we're working..." Ana tilted her head as she wondered what was up with him. She didn't notice the suspicious expressions on Jade's and Mellow's faces as they glanced back at Krash who seemed deep in thought.

" _How long will I have to hide the truth from him_?"

Krash knew that the moment Aaron found out what had really happened to his missing sister, the boy's loyalty to the organization would be questioned and he couldn't allow that to happen, at least not until they had a suitable replacement for him if the worse came to pass. In the end, he was going to have to keep up the charade as he turned around and addressed the remaining members.

"Anyway, I expect all of you to complete your assignments flawlessly. Failure is not an option to those who bare the mark of Paradise. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir"

It was a unified response.

"Good. Then be off"

The figures of Mellow, Jade, and Ana quickly vanished into thin air as Krash was left alone inside of the warehouse, a mixture of different emotions running through his mind. However, there was one thing on his mind that took precedence over everything else as a sharp glare was present on his handsome face.

"I don't know what you're hiding Jackal but nothing will derail Paradise from completing this assignment"

* * *

"Arghhh!"

Jee-Han's horrific screams filled his house as he squirmed on the ground and clutched his body all over. It was fortunate that his mother had left the house early in the morning for groceries as he didn't want to imagine what kind of reaction she would have to seeing her son writhing in pain like this.

" _Fuck! M-My body hurts like crazy, I-I can't take this anymore!W-Why is this happening!?"_

Jee-Han felt as if his body was tearing itself apart as he could hear the bones in his body beginning to break apart and his head felt like it was going to explode. All he had done was activate two inner ki techniques at the same time and that somehow resulted in crying on the floor as if he had swallowed a bottle of liquid nitrogen. The pain was unbearable to the point that Jee-Han was beginning to fear for his life and in situations like these, there was only one thing to do.

"I-Inventory!"

The moment the screen popped up, Jee-Han reached into the transparent box and pulled out several『 **Lowest Grade - Recovery Potion's** 』and drank them with haste. He didn't have time to drink them gracefully as he chugged them down one by one as the red liquid splashed all over his face and clothes. After downing his fifth bottle, the pain that Jee-Han was feeling subsided if only slightly and he sighed in relief. At least, he could delay the pain from getting worse as long as he had these potions. Still, there was no time to celebrate as he spoke his next command.

"Status..."

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Killer of Goblins》  
 **Level** : 35

 **HP** : 315/2240  
 **MP** : 0/4720  
 **SP** : 0/500

 **STR** : 43  
 **VIT** : 50  
 **DEX** : 46  
 **INT** : 71  
 **WIS** : 72  
 **LUK** : 50

 **Available Points** : 33  
 **Money:** 10,175,006

 **Status** :  
•《 **Status Effect** – Energy Overflow (Highest)》  
•《 **Status Effect** – Critical Injury (Highest)》  
•《 **Status** **Effect** – Crippled (Highest)》

" _So these are the culprits!_

Jee-Han grinded his teeth at the three status effects that were the sources of his excruciating pain but realized that getting mad at them would be a waste of time and focused on what to do first. Thanks to the《 **Energy Overflow** 》status, he was unable to utilize either his mana or inner ki for fifteen minutes, making him practically powerless until it wore off. As a result, Jee-Han couldn't use the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』technique to rid himself of the《 **Crippled** 》or《 **Critical** **Injury** 》status until his mana came back.

" _Since that's the case, I just have to survive for thirty minutes..._ "

That was a lot easier said than done as Jee-Han glanced at his remaining HP and widened his eyes as he saw his HP drop again even after he had used five potions. The low grade potions he had acquired restored 200 HP each and he had just lost 50 HP from the《 **Critical** **Injury** 》status after fifteen or so seconds, meaning he that he had to use one potion per minute to negate his HP from dropping. The only problem was...

" _Do I have enough potions to last...?_ "

Jee-Han swallowed his saliva and hesitantly opened his Inventory once again, sighing a huge sigh of relief when he saw that he had a little over thirty potions left that he had gathered during yesterday's trip of grinding. He thanked all of the monsters he had killed who had dropped potions yesterday and wanted to kiss them at this moment.

" _Was it a coincidence? Perhaps my raised luck had something to do with it... ah who cares, I just need to focus on staying alive!"_

Jee-Han's mind may have eased up a bit but he still didn't relax completely as his body was still aching all over from the fusion process. He would be able to survive this ordeal but that didn't mean that it was going to be easy as he had to make sure he drank a potion every minute while enduring immense pain in this state.

He could handle that much... right?

* * *

《 **Energy Overflow** 》 **Status has been cleared. You are able to use Mana/Ki/Chi once more.**

Once that announcement appeared in front of Jee-Han, the boy breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he laid against the floor of his room with his arms and legs spread far apart. His entire body was sweating all over as he panted heavily like a dog that was left in a scorching desert. It seemed that just surviving the ordeal of fusing two inner ki techniques took a few years off of Jee-Han's life as he looked about ready to pass out at any time.

"I... I can't believe I'm still alive..."

Having to constantly down recovery potions as he watched his HP bar continuously drop every few seconds while withstanding the immense pain coming from his aching body was nothing short of first class torture. There had even been instances that Jee-Han almost lost the will to fight but he remembered the promise he had made with Sun-Il, that he would get stronger and help his friend through whatever crap he was going through. How could he help his friend if he were to die pitifully here?

Taking a deep breath, Jee-Han watched as his HP and MP bars begin to steadily rise by the minute and once he had regained enough mana, he activated a spell.

"Yunhon Soul Recovery!"

His body illuminated a dazzling yellow light as it shined through his room, dying out a few seconds later as Jee-Han slowly rose from the ground. He checked his status just in case and saw that the《 **Crippled** 》status and《 **Critical** **Injury** 》status were now both gone, along with《 **Energy Overflow** 》, which meant that he was completely back to normal. The throbbing pain he had felt before had vanished completely and it was instead replaced with an overflowing surge of power that Jee-Han felt at the pit of his stomach.

"...Where is this power coming from?"

As if responding to that question, several new notifications appeared in front of the startled teenager.

 **Ding!**

 **Your body has been reconfigured to utilize the new inner ki technique that inhabits your body!**

 **By surviving the process of fusing two inner ki techniques, your body has been strengthened!**

 **STR, DEX, and VIT have been increased by 10!**

 **By surviving a near lethal experience that would normally kill a person, your LUK has increased by 5!**

 **Would you like to rename this new Inner Ki technique or use the predetermined name?**

Jee-Han's eyes widened at the new notifications as he tilted his head to the side. By surviving that torturous experience, his physical stats had somehow increased by a respectable amount. On one hand, he was happy that he had gotten stronger but on the other hand, he never wanted to go through something like that again just for some stat points. Having to constantly watch his HP bar drop while enduring immense pain as his body felt that it was breaking down and reconstructing itself was a nightmare in itself.

In any case, the matter of choosing a new name of a pre-determined name was Jee-Han's priority at the moment and he pondered over what to do. It didn't take long for him to make up his mind however as he spoke his choice.

"Use the pre-determined name"

It was a fairly easy decision to make; Jee-Han simply wished to know the original name of the technique that the system had created for him.

 **Ding!**

『 **Senbu** **Spirit Technique (Passive Active) LVL: 1 EXP 0.00 %** 』

 **An ancient Inner Ki technique that has been lost for centuries but has been rediscovered by The Gamer thanks to activating both the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon Inner Ki Techniques simultaneously and surviving the fusion process. The founder of technique, Fu Ren, created this inner ki technique to strengthen the body to the physical limit and reach heights that allowed a human to reach immeasurable strength. It allows the user to purify ki at the highest level and utilize a sacred form of energy that was used by the ancient warriors of the Senbumoon Clan.**

 **Passively Increases STR, DEX, VIT, INT, and WIS by 50 %.**

 **Additional 50 % increase in STR, DEX, and VIT when active.**

 **Your understanding of Ki/Chi and how to control it has increased significantly.**

 **Additional 500 MP used per minute.**

 **Additional 100 SP used per minute**

 **Your SP has increased by 300!**

 **You have gained the title "Wielder of Divine Ki" !**

 **"Divine Ki Strike" now available to use.**

"My god..."

Jee-Han couldn't believe his eyes.

What he thought was a disastrous situation that almost ended up taking his life had somehow turned into a unfathomable jackpot as he marveled at the new skill in his possession. The passive stats from the『 **Senbu** **Spirit Technique** 』were far greater than that of either the Chunbumoon or Yunhonmon Spirit techniques, even after he had leveled the『 **Chunbu** **Spirit Technique** 』several times. Along with that, his understanding of energy had sharpened as he could subconsciously feel the divine power running through his body and how to manipulate it.

Last but not least, the title « **Wielder of Divine Ki** » was certainly an appealing new bonus and he clicked on the title immediately to reveal its effects.

« **Wielder of Divine Ki** »

 **A title granted to one who has discovered one of the ancient inner ki techniques that possesses divine quality.**

 **Effect: Reduce activation cost of SP related skills by 20 %**

"Not bad at all" Jee-Han's lips curved into a wide smirk at his new title and its impressive effect. Though he didn't have many SP skills at the moment, he was certain that he would develop some in the near future and that this title would be of great help when the time came.

After equipping his new title, Jee-Han decided to check out his status to view the changes.

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Wielder of Divine Ki》  
 **Level** : 35

 **HP** : 640/2300  
 **MP** : 418/4770  
 **SP** : 0/650

 **STR** : 51 (34 + 50 %)  
 **VIT** : 57 (38 + 50 %)  
 **DEX** : 54 (36 + 50 %)  
 **INT** : 76 (51 + 50 %)  
 **WIS** : 77 (52 + 50 %)  
 **LUK** : 55

 **Available Points** : 33  
 **Money:** 10,175,006

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Jee-Han roared excitedly as he admired his increased stats. It was always a treat to watch his stats grow, especially after what he had just went through. With 33 available stat points, Jee-Han was planning on raising either his INT or WIS but before that, he noticed something odd about the passive boost that were applied to his stats.

"Wait, shouldn't the other passive stats stack on top of the new inner ki technique that I just learned?" If his calculations were correct, the bonus stat Jee-Han should have gotten towards his attributes should have been 150 % and yet, it was only counting the newly acquired『 **Senbu** **Spirit Technique's** 』fifty percent boost.

As if answering Jee-Han's curiosity, a new notification appeared before the troubled teenager.

 **Ding!**

 **Due to the existence of the** 『 **Senbu** **Spirit Technique** 』 **, all "Chunbumoon" and "Yunhonmoon" related skills that require a different inner ki to activate shall be permanently erased.**

Pause.

Did he just read that right?

Before he could fully comprehend what that message had meant, a list of skills appeared before him.

 **"Chunbu Spirit Technique"  
"Chunbu Outer Ki Technique"  
"Chunbu Foot Technique"  
"Chunbu Martial Arts Technique"  
"Chunbu Sword Technique"  
"Yunhon Spirit Technique"  
"Yunhon Outer Ki Technique"  
"Yunhon Foot Technique"  
"Yunhon Martial Arts Technique"  
"Stone Lotus Style" **

**The following skills have been completely erased from your body and cannot be relearned due to their incompatibility with the** 『 **Senbu** **Spirit Technique** 』 **. This new Inner Ki technique that inhabits your body requires the corresponding supplementary skills to be properly utilized.**

"..."

Jee-Han's happy mood from earlier completely evaporated and was replaced with nothing but confusion and resentment towards whatever type of system was running the game he was in. This was bad, _very bad_. All of the passives from those skills were essential to Jee-Han's future growth and now they were gone. He could understand why it had happened but that didn't make the loss any more acceptable as all the time he had spent grinding those skills had just gone to complete waste.

"What kind of bullshit system is this!? Give me back my passives damn it!" Jee-Han fumed as he wanted to punch whoever was controlling the game balance in the face, conveniently ignoring how ridiculous broken it would be if he retained all of the stacked passives from the Chunbu and Yunhon skills. It took awhile before Jee-Han could calm down as his room looked a mess from all of the thrown clothes and games due to his frustration and he slowly began to accept the loss of his beautiful passive skills.

"Shit, it's like I'm starting all over again" Jee-Han heavily sighed, taking a deep breath to calm his agitated nerves. There was no need to panic; he still had the『 **Senbu** **Spirit Technique** 』that, if trained properly, would make up for some of his lost passive effects and he even gained a new title along with more SP. Thankfully, it also seemed that he kept the『 **Yunhon Soul Recovery** 』technique due to the fact that it was converted into a mana skill that didn't rely on the『 **Yunhon** **Spirit Technique** 』. If he had actually lost his only healing skill as well, Jee-Han probably would have thrown his chair out the window.

Like someone rich said a long time ago, you can't make a profit unless your willing to take some losses as well.

Once he had regained control over his emotions, Jee-Han began to think up his new game plan as he narrowed his eyes at the last comment from the notifications.

"Supplementary skills huh? I'm guessing that means that I'll have to search for skills that are compatible with the Senbu Spirit Technique..."

Jee-Han only knew of two places where he could gain any information on this new inner ki technique; the Chunbumoon and the Yunhonmoon. Considering that he was only able to unlock this new skill because he combined their respective inner ki techniques, it only made sense to ask them about it.

"How am I going to explain this to Sun-Il, Sae-Young, and the geezer?" Jee-Han was worried that he'd get chewed out again by them if he told them what had happened. He was worried but he couldn't deny that he was also curious to see their reactions when they got a look at his new skill. Just seeing the old man writhing in envy at his divine aura would be a treat for Jee-Han that no candy could match.

Just then, Jee-Han recalled the unfamiliar name that he had seen when the notifications had appeared before him.

"The message said that the Senbu Spirit Technique was created by that guy called Fu Ren right? Which means that if I'm going to learn the necessary skills to complete the skill, my search will have to start with him"

With his mind made up, Jee-Han was about to open the door and depart for the Chunbumoon before he remembered that they were in the middle of a meeting and told him to swing by at around twelve today. He checked his watch and saw that it was currently ten thirty five, meaning he had around an hour and a half before they'd be able to answer his questions.

"I could always try the Yunhonmoon, but..." Jee-Han had just finished healing their crippled members and left on such a positive vibe. He really didn't want to have to go back there so soon and then explain how or why he knew about Fu Ren and the Senbu Spirit Technique as he remembered Shi-Sen's intimidating figure. They have been on good terms now but he still scared him!

"Ugh, I can't wait. Isn't there any other place I could go to learn about it?" Jee-Han heavily sighed and just as he thought that he was out of options, his eyes befell his home computer that was sitting near the window. Well, to be more specific, it wasn't actually the screen that Jee-Han was thinking about; it was the Abyss Auction that could be accessed on it that piqued his interest.

"...There was a section called《 **Information** 》wasn't there? I guess it wouldn't hurt to check it out..."

Throwing the jacket he had picked up on his way out back onto his bed, Jee-Han sat down in front of his screen and popped open the Abyss Auction once more as he presented his《 **Platinum Membership Card** 》and logged in. Once he entered the site, Jee-Han looked at the side bar and scrolled down until he saw the《 **Information** 》tab and clicked on it without hesitation.

 **Please enter the name of the information you are looking for**

Jee-Han typed the keywords "Fu-Ren", "Martial Arts Master", and "Senbu Spirit Technique" into the search function on the website, keeping his expectations low as he didn't believe there would be any information regarding such a vague topic. Unexpectedly, the search produced one result as Jee-Han's eyes widened in disbelief.

"...Seriously?" Jee-Han expressed doubtfully as he dragged his mouse over the search topic that was labelled "The Senbumoon Clan". The moment he clicked on it however, a warning message had opened up on his screen.

 **To access this page of information, a fee of 5,000,000 won is required.**

 **Due to your status as a VIP member however, there will be a 10 % reduction in cost.**

 **The access fee is finalized now at 4,500,000 won.**

"Tch, of _course_ there's a fee..."

Jee-Han silently clicked his tongue but knew that it was a small price to pay for potentially learning how to bolster his strength significantly and proceeded to transfer the requested amount from his inventory onto his《 **Platinum Membership Card** 》. Once he confirmed the payment and the money was subtracted from his account, he clicked on the search result once more and a brand new page opened up; one filled with a ton of information that stretched down endlessly.

"Ugh, do I really have to read all of this?" Jee-Han was beginning to feel like he was in the middle of an exam but sucked it up anyway and read through the page.

Ten minutes had passed since Jee-Han had started reading and he had discovered quite a lot of info regarding who this "Fu-Ren" person was and where the Senbu Spirit Technique originated from. Apparently, Fu-Ren was the leader of a martial arts clan known as the "Senbumoon" that existed several centuries ago. The Senbumoon clan was a highly respected and feared clan that possessed incredible strength as their members used a form of ki that had never been seen before, the Senbu Spirit Technique. Fu-Ren especially was a monster as he was as fearless and monstrous as they came and was the main factor in why the Senbumoon clan had grown so powerful.

However, the downfall of the clan came when Fu-Ren and the older generation passed away unexpectedly, leaving the rest of the clan crippled and weak against their enemies. It didn't help when internal fighting began to occur over who would succeed Fu-Ren and eventually, the clan split into two groups. Jee-Han didn't even need to continue reading further to know the identity of the two branch groups of the Senbumoon.

"The Chunbumoon and the Yunhonmoon..." Jee-Han whispered as he cupped his chin. Now everything was beginning to make sense. The reason behind the Chunbumoon and Yunhonmoon's rivalry was because in actuality, they were both branch members of the same clan that separated hundreds of years ago.

"Would they have told me this if I had asked them?" Jee-Han pondered the idea if he had wasted the money on the information but shook his head. There was no way the old geezer would tell him any of this as he couldn't have even known about it. When the clan separated, he hadn't even been born yet and any history that the geezer's ancestors may have left him would probably be skewed towards the Chunbumoon's favor.

Even on the off chance that the clan did know about this, Jee-Han wasn't an official member of the Chunbumoon nor was he even a family member, he was simply a close friend. This was personal family business and not something Jee-Han should have to be told, at least that's what Jee-Han believed would be the case regarding both clans.

Scrolling down the page more, Jee-Han discovered that all of the teachings regarding how to fully utilize the『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』were lost once the clan separated, and that because the branch families were never able to discover it, they created "inferior" inner ki techniques to try and replicate it. This revelation made Jee-Han's accidental discovery of the『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』even sadder to him; something these clans tried to replicate over hundreds of years was something he mistakenly picked up in half an hour.

"Life sure is cruel" Jee-Han truly sympathized with them but pushed that matter aside for now as he searched the document for any clues regarding the lost teachings of the Senbumoon Clan. After hearing how much of a monster Fu-Ren was, Jee-Han's curiosity towards learning it was sparked.

After reading through most of the history section, Jee-Han's eyes befell a section at the bottom of the page that was written next to a map of Seoul. More specifically, the address of the map was what piqued his interest and he checked Google Maps to see where it would lead him.

Once he typed in the address, a full scale map of Seoul appeared before Jee-Han and the location and directions of the address he typed were displayed in front of him.

" Seoul Metropolitan Library..."

According to the website, one of the teachings of the『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』was rumored to be somewhere in that Library but no matter how hard people searched, no one had found anything.

At least not yet.

Jee-Han quickly checked the time and saw that it was currently 10:40 AM. With his business at the Yunhonmoon already finished and his scheduled training with Sun-Il and Sae-Young not for a couple hours, Jee-Han made up his mind to pay a visit to the Metropolitan Library.

"I know I promised Sun-Il that I wouldn't go anywhere far until this Cleaner threat was taken care of, but just can't let this chance slip by to get even stronger"

Jee-Han was of course still worried about potential Cleaners coming after him but he was confident that as long as he kept making Illusion Barriers to hide his presence and stayed low, he could prevent what happened last time when he was trapped in an Illusion Barrier with Sung-Ah and Yuri.

"Now that I think about it, I wonder if she's still alright?" Jee-Han was in no way, shape, or form, worried about Yuri as he wouldn't deny that he had less than a favorable impression of the girl. However, he couldn't help but think of how her mental state would be after going through that Cleaner attack and if she truly did believe that it was all a dream.

"Well, it doesn't really matter anyway. If she's as smart as she claims she is, she'll stay as far away from me as possible and that should ensure she doesn't get tangled up in this mess" Jee-Han stood up and picked up his jacket on the bed and headed for the door. It wasn't as if he was going to see her anytime soon anyway as it was the weekend.

There's no way reality would be so cruel as to have him meet her once again by accident right?

Unfortunately for Jee-Han, reality was a far crueler existence than he gave it credit for.

* * *

Seoul Station.

It was a major railway station located in the heart of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Amidst the crowd of endless passengers that were seen passing through the halls was the figure of a young girl presenting her pass to the check in station. After the machine verified her entry, she briskly walked past the station and got in line for boarding the railway, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.

Mae Yuri-Sook.

The studious and highly competitive academic student that attended Yeogang Highschool and was both revered and envied by her peers for her intelligence. Yuri usually prided herself on her superior intellect that allowed her to stand above her average classmates and reign as a queen of sorts in her school but now, she felt that her smarts were useless as she couldn't grasp the spiral of insanity that she recalled yesterday after school.

" _There's no way in hell that all could be just some sort of dream..._ "

She remembered everything that happened. The terrifying black wolf that appeared in the classroom, that game obsessed classmate of her's freaky powers that allowed him to strike the wolf, and of course that stinging sensation at the back of her head when she fell unconscious. When she had awoken, she was laying down in a hospital bed when that new transfer student, Hwan Sung-Ah had informed her that she had a severe fever and had collapsed in the middle of class.

" _Fever my ass!_ " Yuri seethed as she couldn't stomach the idea that someone would take her as if she were a simpleton. What kind of fever caused someone to hallucinate a giant wolf in the middle of a classroom? Ignoring the impossibility of such a fever, Yuri was as healthy as one could be. It was improbable that she could just spontaneously catch a fever and not at least be aware of it before the symptoms became dire.

Obviously, Sung-Ah had lied to her. The question however that was on Yuri's mind was why? For what reason would the transfer student produce such a poor lie to try and make it seem as if she was hiding something?

Before Yuri had time to finish that thought, the line for the door had thinned and she walked forward, entering the railway as she found a set near the back and took a deep breath. She had no idea why this bothered her so much as her priorities were only related towards getting good grades. Whatever that transfer girl was hiding, Yuri wanted no part of it and she needed to focus back on what she did best; studying.

Yuri then raised her wrist and checked her watch, nodding her head at the current time. She was on schedule and should be able to reach the Seoul Metropolitan Library before noon. As per every weekend, Yuri would always take the railway to the library to study for a few hours as the books that the Library owned were great source material for her classes.

Following that thought, she looked around the railway as if looking for a specific person and then snorted arrogantly.

" _Like I thought, if that gamer freak actually had any intentions of becoming a top student like myself, he would be taking the station to the Library"_

Of course, the thought of Jee-Han simply not being on the same railway as her at this very moment had crossed Yuri's mind but she decided to conveniently ignore that logical conclusion and look down on him. Why shouldn't she? He was nothing but a slacker who obsessed over games while she was a honor student the school had never seen before. To allow a person like that to step over pride by possibly cheating his way to a perfect score just made Yuri's blood boil but there was something else regarding Jee-Han that still bothered her.

" _If that wasn't a dream then just how was he able to do that?_ " Yuri couldn't forget Jee-Han dazzling figure as some sort of manga character as he blasted the giant wolf with those white balls of energy. Not only that, but his sudden display of confidence as he told both her and the transfer student to run while he handled the monster. She chewed him out for it at the time but now that she reflected on it, wasn't that a pretty cool thing to do? Yuri didn't speak much on her preferences for guys but she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't attracted to confident and strong men.

Realizing that her thoughts were drifting towards an uncomfortable direction, Yuri shook her head and took a deep breath to rid herself of her flushed cheeks. She wasn't the least bit interested in such an academic failure, especially one that probably cheated to get those marks. That said, she still couldn't let what happened yesterday go and firmly resolved to get some answers from him the next time she saw him.

Once that was out of the way, Yuri stretched her body a bit to rid herself from her slight sleepiness and then looked over to her right as she saw the last few passengers get on the train. There was no special reason for it as she was just killing time until the railway began to move. Just as she was about to look in another direction, something immediately caught her eye as she narrowed her eyes at the person who was getting on the other side of the railway.

" _You've got to be kidding..._ " Yuri's mouth dropped entirely as the person she had been thinking about the most today, Han Jee-Han, had just boarded the railway and sat himself on a seat near the windows. The Seoul Station was the nearest station to the school they both went too so it wasn't _that_ much of a surprise to see him here but this was too freaky to be a coincidence, no?

" _He can't possibly be also thinking about going to the library as well right?"_ Yuri did her best to try and position herself so that she was out of sight as thankfully, the man sitting next to her was rather large and blocked her frame from being seen by those on Jee-Han's side. She observed him a bit as she saw him wearing a casual outfit but his facial expression looked rather serious.

" _I wonder what's he thinking abou-oh crap!_ " Yuri immediately turned her head as she saw Jee-Han's eyes dart over towards where she was sitting. Her heart almost popped out of her chest and she didn't know how much time passed before she slowly peeked out behind the large man and saw that he was looking back out the window once again.

Sighing in relief that he hadn't noticed her, Yuri thought of what her next course of action should be as she couldn't endure her curiosity towards where Jee-Han was heading too. It would take around half an hour before the railway would reach the nearest station where the Library was located. If Jee-Han was planning on heading to the Library, he would definitely get off at that time.

" _I'll just get off when that time comes and see if he's also getting off"_ With her mind made up, Yuri tried to calm herself down a bit but nonetheless, still peeked over towards Jee-Han's location from time to time. She'd never admit to stalking or following someone but if they had the same destination, it wouldn't be the same thing right?

At least, that's what she hoped what her actions would be seen as.

* * *

"...So this is the place huh?"

Jee-Han stood outside the towering building that was known as the Seoul Metropolitan Library with a somewhat fascinated gaze. He had never been here of course as he wasn't interested in places with a lot of historic books, though skill books were always welcome, but it was still a sight to see when looking at it up front.

With his guard still up, Jee-Han's eyes slid across the courtyard, eyeing everyone who seemed even the least bit suspicious. He might have successfully made it here but there was no telling when the next Cleaner attack could occur and remained sharp and focused for anything out of the ordinary. On that matter, there was one thing that was definitely out of the ordinary as Jee-Han slightly turned his head and saw a woman peeking out from one of the statues.

" _Just how bad is my luck that I'd run into her once again?_ "

Jee-Han had long since noticed Yuri's presence around the time he was sitting on the railway but dismissed her completely as he had no business in getting involved with her again. Despite that, she appeared to be following him, not unreasonably of course as she no doubt was skeptical about what Sung-Ah had told her regarding the Shadow Wolf.

With a troubled sigh, Jee-Han merely shrugged his shoulders and walked forward as he ignored her entirely. As long as no Cleaners showed up, then he wouldn't have to worry about being stuck inside another Illusion Barrier with her and as such, there was no need to pay her any attention.

After walking through the front entrance, Jee-Han made his way over towards the central hall where he got a full view of the main building where at least hundreds of civilians were going about their business. It wasn't exactly crowded but there was enough people that it was hard to concentrate as the noises flooding in from everywhere drowned out his own thoughts.

"So, where should I begin to look?" The information regarding the Senbu Spirit Technique's supplementary books was vague and only listed the rumored location. There was no info regarding where _exactly_ it was in this mountain of a library and Jee-Han really didn't feel like searching the whole building just for a few books.

The thought of asking one of the receptionists regarding Fu-Ren popped into Jee-Han's head but just before he could do so, Jee-Han had another idea that seemed like it might work.

After taking a deep breath, Jee-Han then spoke the name of a skill.

"Senbu Spirit Technique!"

Immediately, Jee-Han's body was covered in a sparkling golden aura that swirled around him as if it was a snake wrapping itself around its prey. His hair spiked up a bit as if he was a Super Saiyan and his eyes glowed with a faint silver light as he had activated an inner ki technique with divine quality.

"This power...!" Jee-Han immediately knew the difference between a normal inner ki technique and a divine one as he already felt a tremendous amount of energy coursing through his system. Thankfully, no one else in the Library was capable of seeing this aura as they were just average humans. The surge of power that Jee-Han felt after activating the Senbu Spirit Technique made him feel almost as if he was invincible but he quickly regained his bearings as he concentrated.

 _ **Zing!**_

Just then, a flash of lightning erupted through Jee-Han's body as his eyes darted over towards a certain section of the library. He could see a faint yellow trail that was attaching itself onto his golden aura and Jee-Han had to stop himself from grinning widely that his experiment had worked.

Jee-Han couldn't forget that after learning his first inner ki technique, he had been able to see the "aura" of certain skill books that required an inner ki to fully utilize. It was that discovery that led to Jee-Han thinking of the idea to use his new aura as a tracer to lead him straight to the lost books. It was a gamble of course but it looked as if it had paid off in spades as Jee-Han then moved quickly to follow the faint trail. Keeping the Senbu Spirit Technique active for long was not an option as it drained his SP and MP meter ridiculously fast and he needed to find the books before it ran out.

Of course, no one noticed Jee-Han's accelerated speed as he had long since created an Illusion Barrier.

A minute or so later, Jee-Han had found himself in a mostly deserted section with several enclosed book shelves stood front of him. It was a section in the library that most people wouldn't ever pass by as the books that were placed here were clearly out of date and unimportant. The question of _why_ the secret teachings of a legendary martial arts clan would be in this section of the Library crossed his mind but Jee-Han didn't really care much as he was just grateful that he had found it.

"[I.D Escape]" Jee-Han quickly destroyed the empty Illusion Barrier he created and followed the yellow trail that seemed to point towards in between the book shelves. Once he took a few more steps forward, a new notification appeared before him that made his lips curve into a smile.

 **You have discovered a** « **Hidden Instant Dungeon** »!

 **Only those who possess the** 『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』 **may enter this Instant Dungeon.**

Jackpot.

After entering the new Illusion Barrier, the entire scenery began to warp as Jee-Han grunted a bit at the unexpected change. Moments later, the dimension finally settled as Jee-Han stood wordlessly on top of a platform in the middle of a black void as numerous pillars, that each had a flame burning on top of them, surrounded him.

"Where the hell..." Jee-Han didn't ponder over where he was for long before his attention was drawn towards the staircase in front of him. At the top of the stairs, there was a floating book that was covered in a golden aura that echoed with Jee-Han's soul as he subconsciously reached out for it, trying to grasp it in his hands.

"That's it!" Jee-Han didn't waste any time as he sprinted forward to grab the book but before he could do so, something dropped from the black sky and landed right in front of him with a large thud as Jee-Han instinctively stepped backwards and marveled at the unwelcome guest.

The figure standing before Jee-Han now was an insanely muscular warrior with tribal tattoo's across his upper torso and arms. His intimidating figure reminded Jee-Han of those genetic basketball freaks he saw on T.V and he wondered how insanely tough the man standing before him must have been to grow to be so ripped.

"...Why do I get the feeling that he's not just going to let me pass to get the book" This entire scenario was beginning to look like a Final Fantasy type boss setting where the protagonists discover a hidden boss.

"I am the Guardian of this Divine Shrine" The man spoke with a resolute and commanding voice.

"Of course you are" Jee-Han spat as he already guessed why this man was here in the first place.

"If you have come seeking one of the Tome's of the Senbumoon, then you must first prove yourself against me" The man spoke no further as he took a battle stance and awaited Jee-Han's move.

" _...I wasn't expecting a test like this"_ Jee-Han had never been in an Illusion Barrier like this before, where his entire surroundings changed this much and an enemy was specifically waiting for him. Whoever had designed this "test" had clearly done so in order to hide the secrets of whatever was inside that book and Jee-Han's gamer like curiosity towards the spoils of winning against this warrior were taking over his sense of reason.

"Let's not jump into this without at least knowing what I'm dealing with" There was only one skill that Jee-Han needed at this moment.

"Observe"

 **Ding!**

 **The skill** 『 **Observe** 』 **has reached its maximum level!**

 **It cannot be further raised.**

"Huh, it maxed out now? But it was only level 19..." Jee-Han was a bit bummed that one of his most crucial skills for gathering information had such a low level cap but couldn't do anything about it now as he continued on with reading Haku's updated information from the max level『 **Observe** 』.

 **«Haku, the Spirit Warrior»**

 **Level:** 60

 **HP:** 33,000/33,000 **  
** **MP:** 2000/2000 **  
SP:** 5400/5400

 **STR:** 101 **  
DEX:** 105 **  
VIT:** 88 **  
INT:** 23 **  
WIS:** 69 **  
LUK:** 26

 **«Skills»:  
** • Senpo (Active) **  
**• Senkai (Active) **  
** **•** Senbu Spirit Technique (Active and Passive) **  
** **•** Mid Magic Resistance (Passive) **  
**

 **«Equipment»:  
** • Tribal Mask (Face) **  
**• Tribal Garments (Upper)

 **A loyal and fierce warrior of the Senbumoon Clan that existed over a hundred years ago. Haku's devotion to the Senbumoon clan is as unrivaled as his mastery of his fists and he has sworn to protect the clan's secrets even after his death. As one of the clan's most skilled warriors, Haku possesses incredible battle instincts and outstanding physical strength. Also, he's built like a Greek god and is quite charming, no doubt highly popular among the woman in his tribe. In fact, he's exactly my type teehee~**

 **Hints: Discover what it is you lack in this fight and try to overcome your weakness**

"..."

A look of both annoyance and disbelief was plastered over Jee-Han's face at the extended information displayed in front of him and he honestly had no idea where to even begin dissecting it. Calming his urge to seriously drop kick Gaia who had become much less reserved regarding her bias commentary, there was one undeniable truth that Jee-Han knew of the warrior in front of him.

He was strong.

"His stats aren't that much different from the Goblin Marauder I fought despite being higher levelled but the feeling I'm getting from this guy is completely different..." Perhaps call it a warrior's instincts, but Jee-Han only needed one glance at Haku's eyes to see the fierce strength and experience behind them. A veteran who had survived countless battles and a body that matched that, he was the ideal warrior.

If Jee-Han didn't have his cheat like ability, he would have already run the hell out of here the moment he saw him. He was scary but Jee-Han still thought he could win. Why? Because he the Gamer damn it! Bosses like this guy were made for him to conquer and if he was going to keep growing stronger, than he was going to have suck it up and face the threat standing in his way. It was a matter of survival, only one of them could survive. To get that book, Jee-Han was going to have to kill him. He may look human but he was currently a boss monster that Jee-Han needed to overcome.

That all said...

"It's great that I was able to max out my Observe skill before this fight, the new hint feature looks really helpful" The new information after Observe had reached max level was certainly one of the most broken aspects of Jee-Han's powers as it even gave him a useful "hint" towards beating his foes.

"Overcome my weakness huh?" Jee-Han cupped his chin as he tried to understand the meaning of the hint. Considering the monster possessed a skill that resisted magic to some extent, did this mean that the hint was telling him that he was going to have to use his own spirit power to beat Haku? It wasn't a very favorable choice as his SP bar wasn't even 1/4th of what Haku possessed, not even mentioning the lack of proper SP skills in his arsenal.

"Guess I'll have to figure it out as I fight" Jee-Han threw those thoughts aside as he steeled his nerves and focused on the battle in front of him. Jee-Han didn't know why but he felt that the battle today was going to be one hell of a challenge as he knew instinctively that the warrior, Haku, that stood in front of him was an mountain that he wouldn't be able to climb so easily.

Jee-Han hadn't known at the time however that his fight with Haku would be considered one of the most pivotal moments in his development towards conquering the underworld known as the Abyss.

* * *

 **A/N: Senbu power! Jee-Han's got himself quite the broken ability hasn't he? Of course, using the Senbu Spirit Technique is much more difficult and exhausting than either of the other two spirit techniques to balance its ridiculous stat boosts. You might not see it now but next chapter, I guarantee you will understand just how difficult it is to become a master of this inner ki technique.** **In any case, Jee-Han is now faced with a new boss battle he'll have to tackle on his own against quite possibly the strongest enemy he's faced so far. I don't want to spoil any of you on how Jee-Han will overcome this challenge but I've dropped some hints in the chapter so try to spot them out.**

 **Oh, I almost forgot. I know some of you were wondering why Jee-Han doesn't get a new passive skill when one of his stats reaches above 50 and I've explained it before that Jee-Han's power will only grant him a new passive skill when his** _base_ **stat reaches the 50 interval. Passives are not factored in as if you remove those passives, like what happened in this chapter, then Jee-Han's abilities also decrease and would cause confusion on whether he should be able to keep the new skill or not.**

 **That's all I have to say folks! Can't tell you when I'll update again, might be sooner than you think!**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Wielder of Divine Ki》  
 **Level** : 35

 **Element** **Affinity** :  
• **Nature** \- 20  
• **Earth** \- 83  
• **Darkness** \- 12

 **HP** : 2300/2300  
 **MP** : 4770/4770  
 **SP** : 650/650

 **STR** : 51 (↑8 UP)  
 **VIT** : 57 (↑7 UP)  
 **DEX** : 54 (↑8 UP)  
 **INT** : 76 (↑5 UP)  
 **WIS** : 77 (↑5 UP)  
 **LUK** : 55 (↑5 UP)

 **Available Points** : 33  
 **Money:** 5,725,006

* * *

 **Skills**

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) Lv: 2  
• Mana Arrow (Active) Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) Lv: 2  
• Vine Control (Active) Lv: 4 **  
**• Meteor Shot (Active) Lv: 5 **  
**• Vine Drain (Active) Lv: 2

 **Defensive:  
** • Mana Shield (Active) Lv: 8 **  
**• Steel Skin (Active) Lv: 3

 **Support:  
** • Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) Lv: 10 **  
**• Observe (Active) Lv: 20 MAX **«** ↑ **1 UP»** **  
**• Spirit Channel (Active) Lv: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) Lv: MAX  
• Replication (Active) Lv: 8  
• Senbu Spirit Technique (Active) Lv: 1 **«NEW** **»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:  
** • Physical Endurance (Passive) Lv: 14 **  
**• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) Lv: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) Lv: 5  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) Lv: 5  
• Earth Magic Mastery (Passive Active) Lv: MAX

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active) Lv: 10 **  
**• ID Escape (Active) Lv: 9 **  
**• Shadow Step (Active) Lv: 3


	20. (Arc 2) Chapter 20

**A/N: Another update! Jee-Han vs Haku, a match between the Gamer and the Spirit Warrior. Should be an intense battle, no? Perhaps, but it'll be "intense" in a way you wouldn't believe hehe. Jee-Han will overcome this trial using a very... unorthodox method that is something even I found a hard time believing. He's certainly got his work cut out for him as Haku will be a type of opponent Jee-Han has yet to encounter.**

 **Side note but t** **his chapter is _pretty big_ in terms of Jee-Han's development towards becoming a Jack of All Trades and will push him onto the path of becoming a true Hybrid. Also, he learns a pretty important aspect of his gaming powers regarding certain skills so look forward to reading about that. **

**REMINDER!**

 **You can find some avatars of the OC's that I've made for the story by going to my DeviantART page by googling "TheBlackDuelist".**

 **I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.**

* * *

 **The Gamer – Restart**

 **Chapter 20**

An uncomfortable amount of time seemed to have passed between Jee-Han and Haku as the two stared each other down from the opposite ends of the platform, neither of them making a move. Unlike Haku however, who was not moving due to his curiosity towards the abilities the enemy in front of him possessed, Jee-Han didn't act as he was for a lack of better words, scared.

The reason?

"...This guy isn't like the monsters I fought before..." Jee-Han grimaced as he clenched his sweaty fists, a nervous drip of sweat falling from his face. It was true, Haku was vastly different compared to any Illusion monster that Jee-Han had faced before. Despite the fact that Jee-Han had yet to engage him in battle, there seemed to be some sort of barrier between them that prevented Jee-Han from approaching him.

Sensing his fear, Haku tilted his mask covered face in an act that could only be described as innocent.

"What's wrong, warrior? Why do you hesitate? I can sense the doubt and fear that looms within your body. If you do not have the will to challenge me, then leave this place" Haku declared, his words sound and resolute.

Jee-Han flinched when he heard Haku's remarks towards his resolve and felt himself getting angry as he growled at the man standing before him. Even if he was right, Jee-Han didn't want to hear that coming from nothing but an Illusion monster that was a relic of the past. He thought he was scared of him? Like hell he was!

In response to that, Jee-Han swiftly raised both his fingers and aimed them at Haku's idle figure while producing a small grin. However, unlike his smirks from the past that were brimming with confidence, the one he was sporting now was weak and desperate, as if it would crumble at any moment.

" _Why don't you see for yourself if I'm still scared..._ " Jee-Han thought as he charged his mana within his finger tips and shouted the name of his signature skill.

"Meteor Shot!"

In response, am endless volley of radiant energy erupted from Jee-Han's finger tips as they shot towards Haku who remained in the same spot. An arrogant snort came from Jee-Han seeing Haku's unmoving body as he believed Haku was full of himself and didn't move because he thought he wouldn't need too. If that was the case, then Jee-Han was planning on using Haku's supposed arrogance to his advantage during this fight.

In actuality however, Haku wasn't moving for a completely different reason as Jee-Han was about to find out.

"Senpo"

After uttering those words, Haku's body flickered like a blur and the volley of energy that aimed to damage him merely phased through his body. Jee-Han could only watch with his mouth wide open as he saw Haku flicker from one spot to another, the Meteor Shot's endless attacks missing each and every single time.

"What the hell kind of skill is that!? Flash Step!? After Image!? Is this guy a DBZ character!?" Jee-Han retorted with both a frustrated and impressed look on his face. He was conflicted as to whether he should be in love at Haku using such a cool looking move or be pissed off that his attacks were being rendered completely useless.

In any case, there was no way Jee-Han was going to hit him at this rate and thus, he cancelled his『 **Meteor Shot** 』skill and attempted a different approach to the situation.

"Replication!"

At that command, Jee-Han's body suddenly began to glow faintly before two separate heads split themselves from the original body that resulted in two clones being created.

"...What kind of sorcery is this?" Haku exclaimed in a surprised tone, no doubt taken off guard by the unexpected showcase of such strange magic.

A sinister smirk appeared over Jee-Han's lips at Haku's reaction. Good, being able to catch him off guard by using different types of magic was an advantage that Jee-Han considered pivotal in overcoming this challenge.

"Go!"

The clones moved swiftly at Jee-Han's command as they ran to the edges of the platform and completed a three way encirclement of Haku, who looked more amused than terrified as his head slowly moved from one Jee-Han to the other.

"Let's see if you can flash step your way out of this one!" Jee-Han exclaimed before raising his hand into the air and gathered a great deal of his mana into the center of his palms. He believed that Haku wouldn't be capable of evading three separate attacks that came from multiple angles as the cast time for his spell finished and he shouted its name.

"Spiral Javelin!"

Throwing his hand forward, the blue spinning javelin was launched from Jee-Han as it soared through the air towards Haku. At the same time, the Jee-Han clone on the left placed his hand on the ground and launched an assault of『 **Earth Spikes** 』while the Jee-Han on the right spread both his arms forward and activated『 **Vine Control** 』. From the front a spinning javelin, from the left an eruption of spikes made through earth magic, and from the right a jumble of razor sharp thrones. It was truly a triple threat attack that Jee-Han had full confidence would deal a massive amount of damage to Haku.

Unfortunately, his expectations were shattered as Haku took a deep breath before his body radiated a powerful golden aura, identical to the『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』.

"Senkai"

It was a different technique this time as the attacks that were launched by Jee-Han and his clones all smashed into Haku, a cloud of smoke erupting from where he stood as Jee-Han shielded his face and frowned.

"I'm not going to jinx my chances by saying something stupid like 'That ought to have worked!' when the dust has yet to clear" Jee-Han had watched and read way too many manga and anime in his life to fall for such an obvious bait.

Just as he predicted, once the cloud of smoke disappeared, Haku's figure was seen still standing as his body only had a few scratches over his muscled arms and chest. Not even the mask he was wearing looked as if it had taken any damage as Jee-Han could only curse inwardly.

"That's not even funny... what kind of final boss is this guy?" When Jee-Han observed him earlier, he saw that Haku only possessed two active skills that he wasn't aware of;『 **Senpo** 』and『 **Senkai** 』. He was already able to confirm that Senpo was a type of movement skill that let Haku perform a flash step of sorts, while he was almost certain that Senkai was a defensive skill that allowed Haku to enshroud his body in that golden aura to enhance his defense to a frightening degree. With just these two skills, Haku practically had the perfect defense as he could easily both avoid and tank most of Jee-Han's deadliest attacks.

In other words...

"...I'm screwed, aren't I?" Jee-Han grimaced as his earlier confidence was nowhere to be found. No matter what enemy Jee-Han faced before, he had been able to somehow find a way to overcome them using his brains and magic. The Troll Zombie, the Marauder, the Shadow Wolf; they were all formidable bosses, but they each fell one by one and were used as stepping stones for him to continue to grow stronger. Haku however was proving himself to be an adversary that Jee couldn't handle so easily and was unquestionably the strongest enemy he had faced thus far, barring no one.

That all said, there was one particular manner that was slightly bothering Jee-Han as he spoke dryly to Haku.

"...If you were capable of tanking those attacks just now, then why did you even bother dodging my first attack?" It was a weird feeling trying to have a conversation with an Illusion Monster but Jee-Han had done weirder things in his life. He didn't actually expect Haku to seriously answer him but surprisingly, he did.

"Your attack was so weak and slow that I found it hard to sit still and let it hit me" He then bowed "I apologize if I hurt your pride"

"...Really? Because you don't look all that sorry to me"

"...That's why I'm sorry"

"Die"

Jee-Han immediately fired off another round mana blasts towards the sarcastic Haku but just like before, he merely dodged them utilizing『 **Senpo** 』.

"Shit, this is getting me nowhere" Jee-Han growled, trying to ignore Haku's taunting words from earlier. His eyes slowly drifted around his surroundings, scouting the dimension that the Illusion Barrier had taken shape of. It was an open platform that had no hiding spots and outside of the pillars surrounding them, there wasn't anything else of note that Jee-Han could make use of. He still had his two other clones standing by but they weren't exactly in a position to launch any surprise attacks as they were in plain sight.

" _How am I supposed to beat this guy if I can't even use my usual clone bait tactic? Fuck..._ " Jee-Han was beginning to lose hope as he looked at the gravity of the situation. Thankfully, Haku had yet to initiate an attack towards him as of yet so he wasn't in immediate danger but that wouldn't last forever. He needed to think of a new strategy and fast.

"Oh, that's right!" Jee-Han quickly remembered an aspect of his gaming powers he had forgotten about.

"Skill Window!"

A new window appeared before Jee-Han that listed all of his current passive and active skills and he looked through each of them to think of what his next move would be. Seeing that most of his spells were identical to one another, Jee-Han couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance.

"If I knew this was going to happen, I would have tried getting more variety" Jee-Han complained but he couldn't go back in time so there was no use in whinning now. As such, his eyes dawned on one specific skill he was still practicing that he just recently acquired.

"I still haven't gotten the hang of this one but I don't have much of a choice..." Jee-Han was hesitant but knew he'd just have to take a chance on it. With his mind made up, Jee-Han took a deep breath before glaring at the mask covered Haku standing opposite from him and then in one swift motion, he leaped forward as he charged towards him.

"Have you finally found your courage? Then come warrior, face me head on!" Haku announced, clearly excited that the challenger who had been just casting strange spells since the start of the battle finally began to charge at him like a real warrior. His warrior instincts were beginning to stir his desire for a good fight and he raised his fists, adopting a martial arts stance as he awaited Jee-Han's incoming attack.

"Face you head on?" Jee-Han snorted, crouching his body lower whilst he continued to run forward "As if I'd do something that stupid. Shadow Step!"

The skill that Jee-Han had obtained from the « **Shadow Wolf** » was being used at this moment as his body submerged within his own shadow, surprising Haku who had lost trace of Jee-Han's body. Unbeknownst to Haku, Jee-Han had used the『 **Shadow Step** 』skill to maneuver through his own shadow and encircle around Haku's back to prepare a surprise attack. With only a second or left before the skill wore off, Jee-Han released the spell and jumped out of the shadow, extending one of his hands forward as he readied his next spell.

"Vine Drain!" Numerous green vines sprouted from Jee-Han's outstretched hand as he shouted and they they skillfully wrapped themselves around Haku's chiseled body, the man's facial expression unreadable due to the mask covering his face. However, based on his delayed reaction, he clearly wasn't expecting a technique like this as Jee-Han landed back on the ground with a cocky smile.

"Yes! The paralysis effect worked this time! Looks like lady luck must be on my side today" Jee-Han smiled as he glanced at the vines entrapped around Haku's body and saw the sparks of yellow, an indication that the special property of his『 **Vine Drain** 』skill had taken effect. He now had fifteen seconds to land some serious damage on him as Haku wasn't capable of moving in that short time frame.

"How intriguing. You appear to use a wide variety of spells, warrior" Haku replied nonchalantly, as if the current situation didn't bother him at all. Jee-Han's face twitched at the cool attitude that Haku displayed but didn't let that derail him as he followed through with his next attack.

"Hit him with everything you got!" Jee-Han commanded the two clones that were standing by around the platform as they both raised their arms into the air, creating the form of the『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』that acted as Jee-Han's strongest current spell. Looking at his MP, Jee-Han felt his body grow heavier due to the sheer amount of mana being consumed but didn't mind as he felt that it was a necessary sacrifice for defeating Haku.

"...So this was your plan? You tried this before and it didn't work, so what makes you think that it will now?" Haku doubted with impactful words but said nothing more as he preferred to show why Jee-Han was foolish to try the same tactic from before with his actions. In a flash, Haku's body was surrounded once more by that familiar golden aura but it was noticeably stronger than the last time he used it.

Jee-Han paled when he saw that aura and didn't want to believe what his intuition was telling him. "T-There's no way he can tank this attack right?"

He would have his answer soon enough as the two clones threw the two Javelin's forward, the pressure from the attack causing the clones to be blown backwards as they evaporated due to the lack of mana being able to sustain their forms. That however didn't detract from the two blazing javelin's that were headed straight for Haku, who in response to the incoming attacks, utilized the power of『 **Senkai** 』to create a spiritual armor once more and roared with a beast like voice.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The moment the spinning javelin's came into contact with Haku's chest, they were stopped by the golden armor and were unable to penetrate further through his torso as Haku's『 **Senkai** 』had propelled his defensive properties into another world. Even the flames that surrounded the javelin's were incapable of inflicting any burn damage to Haku thanks to the spiritual armor he wore on his body.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Jee-Han whimpered as he couldn't believe his eyes. That wasn't just some average attack he was using, it was the Blazing Spiral Javelin! It shouldn't have even been possible to stop one of them so easily, let alone two at the same time! This felt like going up against a level one hundred boss battle when your main character was only level five. It was a complete mismatch!

Once the paralysis had eventually worn off on Haku's system, he easily broke free from the vines that bound his body and thrust both his arms outwards, grabbing the two javelin's that had lost their momentum and crushed them as if they were made out of paper machete.

" _I-I've gotta get out of here... I... I can't beat this guy..._ " Jee-Han lost any of his previous composure and confidence from before as he slowly retreated backwards. He needed to escape, this wasn't a battle he could win anymore. The『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』was his strongest offensive spell, one that had always defeated the enemies that stood in his way no matter who it was. This man... no, _monster_ standing before him however, was in a completely different league. Despite Haku's level being even lower than the Troll Zombie's, his skills transcended anything that Jee-Han had ever faced before.

"So this is the extent of your power? How disappointing..."

Haku's cold words were lost on Jee-Han as his body flickered, his lightning fast movements being untraceable to the teenage boy. Moments later, Jee-Han felt an immense impact in his stomach as he coughed blood and slowly looked up as he saw that Haku had pounded him straight in his core. The shock from the attack was so great that Jee-Han's knees gave out completely and he clutched his aching stomach in pain.

 **Ding!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

" _It hurts... It hurts so much..._ " Jee-Han ignored the raise in his passive skill as he tried to endure the overbearing pain. This wasn't making any sense, wasn't he a game character? Didn't that mean he should be able to negate any long lasting damage as it would only register as HP loss? However, the pain from Haku's punch did not recede as he glanced at his HP bar and paled when he saw that he had lost almost half of his HP from just a single strike.

"Begone"

The next moment, Jee-Han's body was catapulted backwards as Haku had kicked him in his ribs, sending him crashing into one of the pillars. Falling to the ground, Jee-Han was still clutching his stomach as he tried to save his depleting life as quickly as he could.

"I-Inventory!" Jee-Han hastily shouted, eyes widening in utter despair as he saw that he had no more available recovery potions.

" _Shit that's right... I used them all to survive the fusion process of the Senbu Spirit Technique! If.. If only I knew about this battle beforehand, I would have restocked..._ " Jee-Han cursed his ill fortune as he panted several times and adjusted his body so that he was now leaning against the pillar, a look of dread and frustration plastered over his face. Sun-Il had always told him to be prepared for anything in the Abyss and he had stupidly chosen to ignore that advice as he believed he could deal with any situation as long as he had him gaming powers. Well, he sure was paying the price for his negligence as he panted heavily and tried to remain focused on Haku who could strike at any moment.

"W-Wait...I still have that skill!" Jee-Han had only one skill currently in his arsenal that could help him out at a time like this regarding his low health and he clumsily raised one of his hands and pointed it at Haku.

"Life Drain!"

A foggy purple mist exploded outwards from Jee-Han's hand and aimed to enshroud Haku within itself as Jee-Han smirked at seeing the skill he had never used up until now. Who knew a skill that he had been so hyped about getting long ago and had neglected all this time, would be saving his life at this moment?

That "life saver" however proved to be just a false dream for Jee-Han as Haku flickered once more to the side, easily avoiding the purple mist that soon evaporated after it failed to make contact with Haku's body. A dark shadow loomed over Jee-Han at seeing his last hope prove useless and the fear he felt from before resurfaced on his face.

"I... I have to... get away" Jee-Han's instincts told him to abandon whatever objective he came here with and live. There would always be second chances right? There was no reason to continue a fight that he had no hopes of winning. Only a true idiot would do such a thing he thought, and yet he still hesitated on using his『 **I.D Escape** 』to escape this Illusion Barrier. The reason for his hesitation was because he saw that despite having the clear advantage and opportunity to end this fight, Haku was still standing still in front of the Altair, with no maliciousness or hostile intent in his actions.

Why?

No matter how much he thought about it, Jee-Han couldn't fathom any ideas as to why Haku would simply continue to stand there. If it was Jee-Han, he wouldn't hesitate at all to strike down an enemy that he had the complete edge over, so Haku's actions didn't make any logical sense to him.

"Perhaps..." Jee-Han spoke carefully, an annoyed expression surfacing on his face at a supposed theory he thought of "...Do you believe that I'm not even worth killing?"

"..."

Haku didn't answer but that silence seemed to have an even greater impact on Jee-Han as the teenager grit his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. Usually, a cheesy and cliche reason like that would never bother him like they did in cartoon's and fiction but now that he was the one that was personally experiencing it, he could only feel a swell of both anger and disappointment rising from his body.

"So that's it huh...? I'm... I'm so pathetic that an Illusion Monster can't even be bothered to kill me..." Jee-Han unexpectedly started to laugh as his body relaxed and he let his head drop to the side. Whether it was due to the pain he still felt in his stomach or because of his wounded pride, Jee-Han didn't respond anymore as he simply closed his eyes and rested against the pillar, with Haku observing the action with a neutral gaze.

"...Your test hasn't ended yet, warrior"

Those words were the last thing Jee-Han heard before he lost consciousness from the pain.

* * *

 **Ding!**

 **Your body has rested for 30 minutes!**

 **HP, MP, and SP have been restored back to full!**

 **All Status Alignments Cleared!**

"Ugh... what... what's going on?"

Jee-Han eyes flickered back open as the blurriness of his sight soon faded and he saw the notifications that appeared before him. Without even realizing it himself, he had fallen unconscious for half an hour and as such, his body had made a complete recovery thanks to his Gamer's Body.

"Right, I almost forgot about that..." It was honestly one of the most broken aspects of his powers that allowed Jee-Han to remove any accumulated fatigue or exhaustion from his body and recover back to full strength after only thirty minutes of resting.

With his body back to normal, Jee-Han jumped right back up and looked around his surroundings, his eyes widening when he saw that he was still inside the hidden Illusion Barrier and that everything from before was the same.

"...How is this possible?" Jee-Han questioned but soon, his eyes befell Haku, who was still standing in the same position from before and wearing that same tribal mask.

"Have you rested enough, warrior? Then we can proceed once again"

"...Hah?"

Jee-Han was at a complete loss as to what was going on as he looked at Haku with an stupefied expression. Proceed once again? What the hell was he talking about? Wasn't the battle already over?

"Sorry, but could you explain to me why I'm still in this place? Didn't I lose the battle?"

"That is correct but also incorrect at the same time" Haku answered.

"...Come again?" Jee-Han was beginning to feel like he was missing something _very_ important in this scenario.

"The battle isn't over until either one of us perishes within this place or you forfeit the battle and decide to leave this dimension. You have not declared your forfeit of the battle and as such, even though you were embarrassingly defeated before, since you did not die or forfeit, you are free to challenge me once again"

Jee-Han wanted to curse at Haku for mentioning how embarrassing his loss had been but paid that little mind as Haku's words seemed unbelievable to the confused teenager.

"Okay but here's a question, why haven't _you_ finished me off yet? You had the perfect chance to do so when I was knocked out"

Haku stayed quiet for a bit, as if he was resisting the urge to answer Jee-Han's question truthfully before his head turned "Think of the answer on your own. I need not explain my reasons to you"

The answer that Jee-Han recieved was surprisingly coy and mysterious, prompting him to narrow his eyes suspiciously at Haku before he took a deep breath and repeated the conditions of this battle out loud.

"So what you're saying is that as long as I don't die in this place or give up the fight, I can keep fighting you as much as I want?"

"Yes"

"...And no matter how much I get beaten up, you won't finish me off?"

"Yes"

"...Because I'm not worth killing?"

"Maybe"

Jee-Han felt the urge to punch Haku straight in his face but withheld it as he heaved a heavy sigh and scratched his head.

"What am I supposed to do now...?"

What action could Jee-Han really take at this point to overcome this trial? He had used every spell he knew, even his strongest one hit kill attack that never failed to destroy an enemy before, and yet still was unable to match Haku. Was there any tactic he had left that would even be _worth_ trying at this point?

"...Well, I do have the Senbu Spirit Technique but.." Jee-Han smiled bitterly as he recalled the pain from Haku's earlier punch. Even if he were to use the boost gained from that inner ki technique, he wasn't confident in the slightest of being able to defeat Haku in close combat quarters and even worse, feared that he would continue to unintentionally gain levels on his physical endurance if he attempted such a suicidal tactic.

"I guess there's nothing I can...wait, physical endurance? Unintentionally? Could that even work...?" A crazy idea flashed across Jee-Han's mind as he cupped his chin and thought about the practicality of it. There were many opportunities to raise that skill he had gained so long ago but how many of those opportunities involved a scenario as perfect as this? Would he even _get_ another chance like this?

"It just might work... though, this is probably going to be the longest boss battle I'll ever have to fight if it does play out the way I want it too..."

"What are you babbling about? Are you coming or not?" Haku was beginning to become impatient as he watched the man standing before him grumble about some nonsense.

"Yeah, I've made up my mind" Jee-Han announced with newfound confidence as he pounded his open palm with a fist. At this point, there wasn't anything he could lose and he might as well take advantage of Haku's hidden circumstances regarding ending his life. Worst come to worse, he could always forfeit the match so there was no pressure of this being a fight to the death anymore. Remarkably, Jee-Han felt his body relax and that intimidating fear he once held for Haku slowly dissipated.

"Here goes nothing, Senbu Spirit Technique!"

Activating his new inner ki, Jee-Han's body glowed with the same golden aura that Haku had showcased from before, with the latter nodding in satisfaction towards seeing it.

"You finally don the aura of our clan. Marvellous! Come at me now then warrior, let us see what you're made of!"

Jee-Han ignored Haku's warrior like taunt as he dashed in and drew his arm back, aiming to knock his lights out with a straight punch. With the boost of the Senbu Spirit Technique, Jee-Han's speed would be overwhelming to any average human and could even surprise any decent martial artist, but to Haku? A warrior who had survived countless battles?

He might as well have not been moving.

Haku easily avoided Jee-Han's punch by side stepping and then countered brilliantly with a devastating punch to the gut that sent Jee-Han soaring back once more into a pillar with a loud crash.

"Agh!" Jee-Han cried as the impact from Haku's blow was firmly planted into the center of his being "Even... if I expected that... it still hurts like a bitch..." Jee-Han groaned as he slowly got right back up, steadying himself as he willed himself to stand once more. He glared right at Haku, who looked as impassive as ever, and let out a few short breaths before shouting once more with a determined gaze.

"Again!"

Jee-Han dashed once more towards Haku but this time, he attempted a roundhouse kick at Haku's hips. To the surprise of no one, it horrendously failed as Haku merely caught Jee-Han's leg, twisting it as Jee-Han screamed in agony before he was catapulted once more backwards into the pillar from a straight punch from Haku's fist to his face.

"Ugh..." A trail of blood fell from Jee-Han's damaged nose as one of his eyes swelled from the punch and his left leg felt almost broken from Haku twisting it. He was a complete mess and if he honestly said he wanted to continue going, he'd by lying straight through his teeth. However, Jee-Han nonetheless perceived through nothing but sheer willpower and as a reward for his persistence, a new notification appeared before him.

 **Ding!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

"Just... like I thought.." Jee-Han rejoiced in his mind that his gamble had begun to show results. It seemed that the easiest way for him to increase his『 **Physical Endurance** 』skill was for him to endure powerful strikes from enemies with monstrous strength. It explained why he didn't gain many levels in the skill up until now as he had mainly fought from a distance with his magic as opposed to fighting in close combat.

" _I had forgotten... what real close combat felt like ever since I started focusing on magic..."_ Sun-Il had always told him that sharpening his close combat skills would be instrumental in his future growth but he ignored that advice in favor of casting magic. If Jee-Han had paid more attention to keeping up his martial arts skills, perhaps he wouldn't have had to resort to such using such a crazy idea in the first place.

In any case, Jee-Han's truly suicidal plan would only take effect after recovering and as such, Jee-Han closed his eyes as he felt his consciousness fading once again.

Thirty minutes seemed to pass by in a flash as Jee-Han awoke once more, all of his attributes being recovered to the maximum as he slowly rose from the pillar and stretched his body.

Haku wisely noticed that something wasn't right as he tilted his head in a confused manner.

"This isn't making any sense, why do you keep stopping the fight every time? Your injuries can't heal in such a short amount of time"

Of course, Haku had no way of knowing the ridiculous benefits that Jee-Han's gamer body gave him as Jee-Han merely shrugged in response.

"Who knows? Why don't you try figuring that out on your own?"

"...Tch" Haku clicked his tongue, not oblivious to the subtle mockery in Jee-Han's tone as he watched him dash towards him once again. However, Jee-Han suddenly stopped out of nowhere this time and had a look of enlightenment on his face, as if he had discovered something.

"Oh right! I can't believe I almost forgot about using this cheat! Replication!" In response to the skill, three separate Jee-Han's divided from the original and now four of them stood across from the startled Haku.

"What... what are you planning?" Haku was honestly bewildered as to what Jee-Han's aim was in this test and in response to his question, he received malicious grins coming from each separate Jee-Han.

"We're planning on using you to exploit our powers!" They all said in unison as they all charged at Haku.

Regardless of the numbers however, each Jee-Han was pummeled mercilessly by Haku without being able to even land a single strike against him. However, that was completely within Jee-Han's calculations as what he was aiming for was different than what Haku could ever perceive.

 **Ding!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Your VIT has increased by 2!**

After resting for thirty minutes, Jee-Han repeated the process once again.

 **Ding!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

And again.

 **Ding!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

And again.

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Physical Endurance increases by 1!**

 **Your VIT has increased by 2!**

An almost endless cycle of Jee-Han and his copies being brutally beaten by Haku occurred within the Illusion Barrier. It got to the point that Jee-Han even forgot how long he had been inside as the repetition of being beaten by Haku was thoroughly edged into his honestly believed that if his gaming body wasn't capable of removing all accumulated fatigue and pain with just half an hour of rest, he would have gone insane during this time as it felt as if he had been inside the Illusion Barrier for several days. Luckily, he wasn't just increasing his VIT was also being raised slowly during the beating he was taking from Haku alongside his『 **Physical Endurance** 』and that made this entire ordeal bearable to some extent.

After an almost unfathomable amount of time seemed to pass, a new notification appeared before Jee-Han just as he got up from being kicked against the wall.

 **Ding!**

 **The skill** 『 **Physical Endurance** 』 **has reached its maximum level!**

 **It cannot be further raised.**

"At last...!"

Jee-Han shouted in joy as he finally saw the notification that he was waiting for. He had no idea how long it had taken him to get here but judging by Haku's clear sign of fatigue and annoyance, it had to have been an incredibly long amount of time. However, the next notification that appeared before Jee-Han made his annoyance disappear.

 **By thinking of a brilliant strategy, your WIS has increased by 2!**

"Sweet!" Jee-Han yelled with excitement that he was being recognized as a wise individual by the system. He probably never would have thought of it if he hadn't raised his wisdom to above 50 from before or had learned of the loophole regarding this battle with Haku.

Putting that aside, Jee-Han immediately checked the skill's current properties.

『 **Physical Endurance** **(Passive) LVL: MAX** 』

 **A skill that makes the body's durability increase, reducing damage taken. Physical Endurance is obtained by enduring pain and physical attacks. This skill was initially obtained when Jee Han's teacher punished him for being late and was later further exploited in his battle against the handsome and sexy Haku.**

 **Passive Effect: 50 % Resistance to all Physical Attacks**

"...What a godly skill" Jee-Han commented, not bothering to pay attention to the description that Gaia used as his fists trembled in excitement at the skill's new effect. It had been one hell of a ride but Jee-Hand had endured a nightmarish experience in order to gain this amazing effect. With a fifty percent resistance to physical damage, it basically meant that any and all physical attacks towards him would always be half weaker than they originally were!

"Though I am a bit bummed that it's maximum level was fifty, I can't say I'm disappointed" If he had been able to reach a hundred percent nullification of physical damage, Jee-Han probably would have went insane from ecstasy but alas, that was a pipe dream. Although, Jee-Han shuddered to imagine how long it would take for him to reach that point after he endured such torture just to get it to level fifty.

Jee-Han's eyes then befell the scattered clones around the platform that began to evaporate due to the lack of mana supplying them as a tender expression showcased on his face. He was only able to reach this far by using his replica's to accelerate the experienced gathered and in the process, Jee-Han came to be forever grateful to the Troll Zombie for granting him such a cheat like skill.

"Sorry, but I'm not done yet using you guys" There was no way Jee-Han was going to neglect exploiting more out of Haku as he activated『 **Replication** 』once more and summoned five extra clones. Now that the skill had reached level ten, Jee-Han was capable of summoning five clones that could last around twelve minutes before disappearing.

"Senbu Spirit Technique!"

All six Jee-Han's began to radiate that same familiar golden aura as they glared down Haku, who at this point had no idea how to react anymore towards the challenger standing before him. In his long life of fighting monsters and other humans, he had never met such a bizarre human such as Jee-Han before who seemed to grow stronger with each passing encounter.

"Now we have to work on raising our combat mastery!"

Jee-Han's plan was very simple. After raising『 **Physical Endurance** 』as high as he could, he was going to raise his『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery** 』so that he would be able to follow Haku's movements better and be able to hold his own against him in close combat. He already saw for himself how useless his magic was against Haku's superior defensive skills, so he needed to switch things up and try him with hand to hand combat. It was worth giving a shot at least.

"Get him!"

Jee-Han and his clones rushed in and began to assault Haku, who once again adopted his signature fighting stance and took each of them head on. Unlike before however, where all it took was a single hit or so for each clone to be knocked out flat cold, the clones were able to survive multiple hits from Haku's incredible strength as a result of the maxed out『 **Physical Endurance** 』skill.

With that being said however, they weren't exactly making much progress as the difference in fighting skill and experience between Haku and Jee-Han was like the difference between an ant and a mammoth. No matter how resistant to damage Jee-Han became, that fact didn't change between them. Jee-Han could understand the experience aspect but he didn't comprehend why despite the fact that he had raised his『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery** 』several levels, his overall skill in hand to hand combat never seemed to improve.

Curious to know what the issue was, Jee-Han quickly checked the skill properties for『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery** 』.

『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) LVL: 8** 』

 **A skill that allows the user to be proficient in bare handed combat that was obtained through continuous unarmed fighting.**

 **Passive Effect: 18% Increase in Bare-handed Attack Damage.**

 **Passive Effect: 18% Increase in Bare-handed Attack Speed.**

"Hmm..."

Cupping his chin, Jee-Han thought about why, despite the fact that he had increased the skill's level, his proficiency in unarmed combat was so sloppy and amateurish. If he raised the level of the skill, shouldn't his technique also improve?

"Hold on... in some games that I played, a skill's numerical level was different from its proficiency rank. Just maybe..." It was an idea that was floating around in his head an he decided to take a chance on it. What did he have to lose?

"Show Proficiency Rank of Unarmed Combat Mastery"

『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery** 』

 **Proficiency Rank: E**

 **The skill currently recognizes you as a** « **Beginner** **»** **user of Unarmed Combat.**

Bingo.

"Hahaha... so it really was like that..." A crude laugh escaped Jee-Han's mouth when he saw the new status message and he realized immediately why he sucked at close combat so much despite his skill level. Apparently, it was just because he was only raising the skill's _technical_ level as opposed to its proficiency rank.

In other words, no matter how high the level the skill became, if his proficiency rank was garbage, so was his actual technique and execution of the skill.

Jee-Han felt like punching himself in the face for just _now_ discovering one of the most crucial pieces of information for raising his skills as it could have saved him a ton of grief during his previous battles. If『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery** 』had a Proficiency Rank separate from its normal level, then didn't this mean that all of his skills possessed the same feature? If that was the case, then Jee-Han had even _more_ grinding he needed to do and that was something he was really looking forward too as a tired sigh escaped his lips.

"It seems that I can't use the same strategy from before in order to raise the skill's proficiency" If it was that easy to raise it, then it would have been much higher than it was now due to all of the sparring sessions he had with Sun-Il. Clearly, raising his proficiency was much more difficult than simply raising the skill's level and Jee-Han knew that the key to solving this riddle was to engage Haku in hand to hand combat until he figured it out.

After the last Jee-Han clone was smashed apart, Haku turned his attention back to the original Jee-Han and growled threateningly at him. The passionate battle between two warriors he longed for was instead treated as some sort of weird experiment by the man standing over there, which made Haku's warrior pride infuriated beyond belief.

"Do you plan on playing around all day? Face me head on with your skills!" Haku shouted, not actually expecting Jee-Han to comply with his demand. Surprisingly however, he did as Jee-Han took a normal battle stance faced him with a determined look that was filled with both curiosity and a resolve to emerge victorious in this fight. It was a bit of a shock to Haku seeing such an expression but he cast that aside for now as he awaited Jee-Han's initial attack.

A few seconds passed before Jee-Han crouched down and then sprinted forward, pulling his arm back once again like before to punch the warrior. Haku, seemingly disappointed that Jee-Han didn't change his strategy, prepared to simply side step again but was taken by surprise when he saw Jee-Han drop his arm and then change his attack into a roundhouse kick.

Still, that surprise didn't last long as Haku easily adjusted and blocked Jee-Han's kick and tried to counter with his signature gut punch. Being on the receiving end of that punch countless times, Jee-Han's body instinctively dodged it as he twisted to the side and then aimed a punch at Haku's open ribs. Haku didn't allow his exposed opening to remain open forever as he also twisted his body and avoided Jee-Han's punch before raising his elbow into the air and then slammed it down onto Jee-Han's neck.

"Gah!" Jee-Han screamed, enduring the great force of Haku's elbow as he kneeled on the ground. It hurt like hell but thanks to his increased physical resistance, he was far from done as he tried to counter with an upper cut towards Haku's mask covered face.

"That's the spirit!"

Haku was joyful as he easily evaded Jee-Han's strike and then attempted a kick to Jee-Han's shoulder, which he somehow was able to dodge by the skin of his teeth as he grunted and then charged at Haku once again.

The two of them exchanged blows like this several times, with Haku landing more than a handful of heavy blows on Jee-Han while Jee-Han himself failed to land a single hit. That was okay though as Jee-Han was only concentrating on increasing his proficiency and he believed that in order to do that, he needed to study and observe Haku's movements and try to predict them as best he could.

Finding himself against the pillar once more after being beaten down mercilessly by Haku again, Jee-Han wiped his sweaty forehead and breathed out a few breaths as he glanced at the message that appeared before his eyes.

『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery's** 』 **Proficiency Rank Has Increased!**

 **E** → **D**

 **The skill currently recognizes you as a** « **Novice** **»** **user of Unarmed Combat.**

A wide smile curved onto Jee-Han's beaten up face as he saw the notification.

"So that's the secret huh..."

Due to the beating he recieved once again, his consciousness faded and he ended up resting once again to restore his low HP. Even if he did increase his physical resistance, Haku was still a monster and it now required a few dozen hits or so from Haku to flatten Jee-Han completely enough for him to pass out.

Once thirty minutes passed once more, Jee-Han sprang to life as he jumped straight into the air and smirked at the dejected Haku. Being unable to finish off an opponent who seemingly continued to get stronger in the middle of a fight must have been the absolute worst experience for a truly passionate warrior.

" _Well, it's not like I really care about his feelings_ " Jee-Han coldly thought before reactivating『 **Replication** 』and ended up creating five more Jee-Han's once more. Now that he had tested himself how to raise his Proficiency rank, it was now time to accelerate his training.

"I hope you're ready!" All of the Jee-Han's shouted as Haku prepared once more to engage them. At this point, he didn't even bother to get upset or angry anymore and just accepted whatever Jee-Han threw at him.

* * *

『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery's** 』 **Proficiency Rank Has Increased!**

 **C** → **B**

 **The skill currently recognizes you as an** « **Expert** **»** **user of Unarmed Combat.**

"That took a bit longer than I thought..."

Jee-Han was sweating profusely after finishing another test of martial skill against Haku but unlike before, Haku himself seemed to be also a bit fatigued as he could see his chest heaving in and out. Jee-Han had to have engaged Haku at least fifty times by now and with each encounter, Haku's stamina and fatigue were beginning to accumulate while Jee-Han was able to make a complete recovery by simply resting.

Curious to the current stat of his adversary, Jee-Han checked Haku's status and saw that while his HP hadn't dropped much, as Jee-Han and his clones had only managed to land a few pitiful blows on him, his SP bar was what was surprising as it was almost completely empty.

"Ah!" Jee-Han quickly realized as he observed the dimming golden aura that coiled around Haku's body. It was no longer as radiant and powerful as the first time that Jee-Han had seen it and he could only deduce that Haku had been using the『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』this entire time. How could he not? Jee-Han and his clones continued to grow stronger with each encounter and were also using utilizing the same inner ki technique to enhance their strength and speed. Against any ordinary ability user, they would have been an overwhelming force but Haku's trained veteran skills and mastery over his aura was what allowed him to defeat them with such ease.

Truly, he was a warrior worthy of respect that Jee-Han couldn't help but inwardly praise. Though, he still didn't like him as Haku's smartass remarks from earlier were still fresh in his mind.

"You look tired, Haku. You sure you don't need a break?" Jee-Han offered as he took another random stance and summoned his clones using『 **Replication** 』.

Haku growled at Jee-Han"s taunt before furiously shaking his head.

"As if I'd need to rest to deal with an amateur of your level"

Though he acted composed, Haku was inwardly rattled at Jee-Han"s increasing skill in hand to hand combat. How could someone improve their fighting technique by continuing to get beat up like this? It didn't make any sense! He could barely throw a coordinated punch before and yet now he was fully capable of chaining combo's together as if he had been a fighter for years. Was he perhaps holding back this entire time? It was a thought that Haku couldn't make sense of so he merely tossed it aside and focused back on the battle.

"Then let's keep going!"

Jee-Han rushed in again with his clones and attacked Haku from six different angles that made it look reminiscent of a Bruce Lee movie. The difference between a skill with a Proficiency Rank of E and a Proficiency Rank of B was beyond massive, so much so that Jee-Han found it hard to believe how skillful his movements looked compared to before. With『 **Unarmed Combat Mastery** 』having leveled up to fifteen and his Proficiency Rank sitting at the « **Expert** » stage, Jee-Han's technique in unarmed combat was breath taking as not just him but his clones also performed incredibly fluid and smooth movements with their arms and legs that were able to match even Haku. A punch that would have easily smashed right into a clone's face before was now easily anticipated by the clone as it carefully parried the blow and shot a perfectly coordinated straight hook right at Haku's ribs that connected.

"Kuh!"

Haku was beginning to grow agitated from the onslaught as he released more strength into his aura and dealt with several of the clones using one his skills,『 **Senpo** 』. He flickered and easily swatted two clones away while pivoting to kick a third before he was on the defensive again, panting heavily and nearly out of breath.

" _Heh, it looks like he can't use those special techniques for very long_ _in his current condition_ " Jee-Han smirked and continued to maneuver his clones to strike at Haku. Now that each clone's skill in unarmed combat had reached the same level as a martial arts expert, they were all able to at least hold their own against the masterful Haku as opposed to being embarrassingly toyed with before.

Strangely enough, Jee-Han was beginning to enjoy himself during the bouts with Haku as he never knew fighting so up close and personal like this could be so fun. Of course, it was only fun now as he wasn't his ass kicked like before but the sentiment still counted as Jee-Han guessed that this was why Sun-Il and Sae-Young loved martial arts so much.

Still, Jee-Han knew he couldn't enjoy this feeling forever and resolved to finish the battle as he jumped backwards from the group of clones and raised his arms into the air as he activated the『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』spell. Ten seconds passed by in no time as his clones did an excellent job of distracting Haku and with one swift thrust, Jee-Han shot the javelin forward with impressive speed as he mentally commanded one of his clones to jump in front of Haku to block his vision.

It was a brutal tactic that involved sacrificing one of his precious clones but Jee-Han knew it needed to be done as the javelin pierced right through the clone's chest and arrived right in front of the surprised Haku.

"B-Bastard!" Haku shouted as he quickly activated his『 **Senkai** 』to enshroud his body in a spiritual amour that kept the javelin from penetrating his flesh. With his already low reserves of spirit energy, it was incredibly difficult for Haku to hold on but he smiled under his mask as he believed that he could grab it and destroy the javelin. However, the next words that came out of Jee-Han's mouth crushed that hope instantly.

"You're holding up quite well. So, how about another one?"

"W-What?"

Raising his hand once more, Jee-Han activated another『 **Blazing Spiral Javelin** 』spell and smiled terrifyingly towards the nervous Haku.

"Just consider this a small gift from me to you for all the beatings you gave me"

Jee-Han didn't hesitate as he threw the javelin with even more force than before as it sped across the platform and collided with Haku's spiritual armour once more. He was already struggling to hold one javelin, but two?

It was impossible.

"K-Kuh!" Haku groaned in agony as his spirit armour collapsed and the two burning javelin's pierced straight through his chest. Unlike the monsters who howled in extreme pain after being pierced by those javelin's however, Haku merely grunted as his body erupted into flames as an after effect of the « **Burning** » damage that the Javelin's possessed.

"These are... spiritual flames...?" Haku hadn't known of course but the flames that were wrapped around the javelin were not made out of mana but out of spirit energy, which was a result of fusing the spiritual flames born from Shi-Yun's『 **Soul Blaze Arts** 』. As such, the spiritual flames were finally able to burn through Haku's impenetrable defense due to his lack of remaining spirit energy to shield himself.

Jee-Han watched Haku's struggling figure with a relaxed expression, hopeful that the battle had finally come to a close. Checking the warrior's status, his eyes popped out of their sockets when he saw that Haku still had a silver of HP left despite taking not just one but two of his strongest spells simultaneously. This guy truly was a monster!

However, all good things came to an end and Haku's body had received the full effect of the « **Burning** » alignment and thus, his HP was gradually beginning to drop. At the rate it was falling, Haku didn't even have a full minute left remaining as he dropped onto one knee and resolved himself to his fate.

"I... have lost the battle. You are worthy enough... to inherit the secret teachings of my people" Haku said begrudgingly as he clearly didn't like how the battle had turned out but had to honor his agreement nonetheless.

Walking forward, Jee-Han stopped right in front of Haku with a suspicious gaze before opening his mouth.

"Tell me, why didn't you finish me off? No, better yet why didn't you ever initiate an attack against me? You always only attacked after I attacked. I think I deserve at least an explanation for why you took it easy on me"

It was the question on Jee-Han's mind that plagued him to no end. If Haku had been seriously aiming to win the fight, then Jee-Han would have lost and that would have been the end of it. Jee-Han wasn't arrogant or deluded enough to actually believe he had won this fight on an even playing field. He was only able to win due to Haku's generosity of not attacking him directly, even when he was unconscious. Haku had refused to explain his reasons before but now that he was dying and the battle was over, there'd be no reason in hiding it anymore right?

Following that hope, Haku answered honestly.

"...It's because this challenge was designed to test whether someone had the qualifications to inherit our teachings. We wanted someone to use our skills but not if the person didn't have the required skill or talent to properly learn them. As such, our chief designed this created space with me as a representative to test any challengers with the condition that I was only allowed to counter attack"

"Your chief? You mean Fu Ren?" Jee-Han absentmindedly said, not expecting the shocked reaction from Haku.

"H-How do you know the name of our deceased chieftain!?"

Jee-Han didn't answer that as he didn't believe Haku would even understand the concept of modern day internet from whatever era he was born from and since that was the case, there was no point in explaining that he learned of it through the Abyss Auction.

"Let's just say one of my powers helps with that. Ignoring that, so you're telling me this entire battle was just a test for me? I was never in any real danger?"

Haku seemed unsatisfied that Jee-Han didn't answer him but nonetheless replied.

"That's right. We simulated a life or death battle but had no intentions of killing any challenger as we only wished to test their skills. If they passed, then that was great but if they failed, they would be unworthy and would have to leave this place forever"

Jee-Han almost felt like punching himself for how much he worried about dying, but quickly realized that he wasn't like normal individuals. His HP bar represented his life and once it reached zero, he would die on the spot. Normal people however couldn't know the exact moment they were going to die from grave injuries and would probably escape this Illusion Barrier after failing to defeat Haku.

"I'm curious, you said when you escape this Illusion Barrier that you're unable to return. Is that really true?"

Haku nodded firmly "Correct. This dimension was designed for only a single use per person, meaning that if a challenger either succeeded in defeating me or left this dimension after forfeiting,then it would be impossible for them to return here"

"I see, and how many people have challenged this place before me?"

"None, you are the first individual to challenge me"

"...Seriously?" Jee-Han could hardly believe it. He thought about it for a moment and now that he actually looked over the details on how he got here, it was made sense. You could only enter this dimension if you possessed the『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』 which could, as far as Jee-Han knew, only be obtained through surviving the fusion process of the Chunbu and Yunhon inner ki techniques. Every martial artist knew that it was forbidden to even attempt to activate two inner ki techniques at the same time and anyone who was stupid enough to try most likely died during the assimilation procedure, with Jee-Han only having barely survived due to the benefits of his gaming body.

If you took into consideration all of these facts, then the only conclusion you could come to was that...

"...Only someone like me was capable of passing this test" Jee-Han spoke softly as if a revelation had hit him.

"...I suppose you could say that" Haku added, his health bar still dropping by the second. He didn't have much time left as Jee-Han stared at him for a few more seconds before he felt a bit awkward and avoided Haku's gaze through his mask.

"Hey... could you... take off your mask for a second? I don't know why but I'm just curious to know what you look like underneath it" Jee-Han didn't know why he felt the need to do something like this but he couldn't help his curiosity.

"...I'm sorry but I'm afraid I'm not into men"

"Blazing Spiral Javel-

"Forgive me, it was just a joke" Haku was quick to apologize as he noticed Jee-Han charging up his spell once more and raised himself from the ground despite his declining condition.

"...I will gladly grant that request, but only if you grant one of mine"

Jee-Han's eyebrows raised when he heard that.

"...What is it?"

Jee-Han didn't know why but he felt as if Haku was smiling under his mask.

"Please tell me your name"

It was a surprising but strangely normal request as Jee-Han nodded and smiled a bit.

"Han Jee-Han"

"...Jee-Han is it? Pft..."

Jee-Han narrowed his eyes in a threatening manner "You laughed just now didn't you?"

"...You must be mistaken"

"Blazing Spiral Jave-

"I sincerely apologize for laughing at your wimpy sounding name"

"...Your one snarky bastard, you know that?" Jee-Han seethed but decided to leave the matter alone for now as he knew Haku didn't have much time left.

Seeing Jee-Han's reaction, Haku uncharacteristically chuckled before he slowly grabbed the mask over his face and removed it, surprising Jee-Han at the content underneath as he quickly regained his bearings and clicked his tongue out of jealously.

"...That damn Gaia was right, you are one handsome bastard..."

"..Pardon?" Haku's signature motion of tilting his head appeared once again before Jee-Han shook his head to erase his thoughts.

"Forget it. Anyway, thanks for the challenge Haku. You really did help me get alot stronger and taught me something that I was completely forgetting regarding my weakness" Jee-Han smirked as he threw his arms behind his head. He understood now what that hint meant regarding overcoming his weak point through battling Haku. Thanks to him however, he was able to make steps towards plugging that hole in his fighting style and would continue to work on it as he leveled even further.

"I'm still in awe of the fact that you were able to grow so much despite the ridiculous amount of times that I beat you down. Han Jee-Han, you truly are the king of enduring beatings"

"...If it wasn't for the fact that you were already dying, I would be throwing another javelin at you right now" Jee-Han seriously wondered how Haku's tribe was able to put up with him.

As the last of Haku's HP fell, his last words could still clearly be heard even as his corpse vanished into black smoke.

"You are an incredible warrior, Han Jee-Han. Use the skills of our people well and don't forget, your true test has yet to begin"

"...Of course it hasn't..." Jee-Han spoke as he already had a feeling that Haku wasn't the last boss he was going to have to fight in order to fully learn all of the supplementary skills of the Senbumoon Clan. No, Jee-Han knew that the _true_ test for inheriting the secrets of the Senbumoon were still to come and that he would have to be ready for it when the day finally came.

 **«You have gained 100,348 experience!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

 **«Your level has increased by 1!»**

"Four levels huh?" Though Jee-Han would never be depressed about acquiring more experience and leveling up, his battle with Haku seemed to change something in him as he was able to comprehend his shortcomings as a fighter very clearly in that fight. He had neglected close combat in favour of casting safe spells and he paid for his choice against an enemy that his magic was initially useless against. If he was going to fight against enemies like Haku in the future that could deal with even his high cast spells, he needed to change his game plan.

"I'll have to come up with a different fighting style then, one that uses both long range and close range attacks" Jee-Han was resolved to invent this new fighting style but put that aside for now as he checked the items that Haku had dropped.

Ten bottles of『 **Highest Grade - Recovery Potions** 』, the mask that Haku had worn on his face, a glowing yellow stone, and a stack of cash. Those were the items that he received this time from the battle and Jee-Han felt a bit disappointed that he didn't acquire a skill book. He _really_ wanted to use the skills that Haku used as they were quite frankly badass, but there was nothing he could do if they didn't appear as he poured the items into his Inventory.

After storing the recovery potions and the cash, the first item he was curious to learn about was the yellow stone in his hands.

"Observe"

『 **Spirit Shard** 』

 **Rank: Special**

 **A crystal shard that contains a great deal of spirit energy and and was used by warriors to strengthen their souls.**

 **Can be used for crafting and/or alchemy**

 **Ingredients** **:** 《 **Crystal Shard** 》+《 **Condensed** **Spirit Energy** 》

"...Huh? Ingredients? I've never seen this before..." Jee-Han was pleasantly surprised to see a new branch of information for objects that he observed and guessed it must have been because he had maxed out his『 **Observe** 』skill earlier. Now, he was able to see the ingredients of certain items and perhaps even weapons! He was seriously beginning to consider whether he should start crafting sometime soon, remembering how terrible it was to see that he had ran out of recovery potions.

"I should use Observe on my recovery potions and see what ingredients I need to make them so that I'll be able to mass produce my own recovery potions" He planned to get right on that idea after he got home today.

Saving that idea for later, Jee-Han's attention turned to the final item that was laying on the ground as he picked up the mask that was worn by Haku and looked at it with a tender gaze. Despite being a smart mouthed Illusion Monster, Jee-Han felt immensely grateful to Haku for how he had helped him realize his fundamental weakness and how he should grow in the future. Haku was, without question, Jee-Han's greatest challenge thus far and he would never forget about him as he placed the tribal mask in his inventory.

Now that Jee-Han had collected his loot from Haku, he turned to the stairs that led to the Altair with an anxious gaze. Taking a deep breath, he began walking up the stairs slowly and reached the floating book that was emitting the aura of those that possessed the『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』.

Swallowing his saliva, Jee-Han slowly reached out and grabbed the book as he saw the new notification that appeared before him.

« **Ding!»**

 **You've obtained the skill book** 『 **Tome of the Senbu: Vol. I!** 』!

 **Would you like to learn the knowledge and skills that reside within this book?**

 **Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)**

"...What the? This is only the first volume? And what the hell does it mean by skills? There's more than one inside this book?"

It was a message that Jee-Han had never seen before as there hadn't been a skill book thus far that prompted such a strange message. How many volumes of the Senbumoon did he have to obtain to acquire all of the corresponding skills? It was giving him a headache having to think he'd have go through even more challenges like the one with Haku but nonetheless, he still pressed confirm.

 **You cannot learn this book.**

 **Required STR: 50**

 **Required DEX: 50**

 **Required VIT: 50**

"Hah..."

Jee-Han unintentionally sighed when he saw the stat requirement. _Of course_ he needed to have all of his physical attributes above fifty, the world wasn't just going to give him such a valuable book if he didn't even fill that requirement.

Once he got over his depression, Jee-Han called upon his current status.

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Wielder of Divine Ki》  
 **Level** : 39

 **HP** : 2300/2300  
 **MP** : 4770/4770  
 **SP** : 650/650

 **STR** : 52 (34 + 53 %)  
 **VIT** : 58 (38 + 53 %)  
 **DEX** : 55 (36 + 53 %)  
 **INT** : 76 (51 + 53 %)  
 **WIS** : 82 (54 + 53 %)  
 **LUK** : 55

 **Available Points** : 53

 **Money:** 7,575,006

"Thank god I leveled up four times, otherwise I wouldn't have enough extra points"

Truly, Haku had come through for him.

"Wait a second" Jee-Han recalled the last instance where he had to invest points into raising a stat to a certain number "Don't I also get some bonus after I raise a stat over fifty? I can't wait to see what kind of skills will show up"

With an excited glint in his eyes, Jee-Han proceeded to spend forty two of his remaining fifty three stat points into raising his base STR, DEX, and VIT that excluded passive bonuses to fifty and as a result, three new sets of notifications appeared before him.

First was strength.

 **Ding!**

 **The skill** 『 **Superhuman Strength** 』 **has been created through STR rising above 50!**

『 **Superhuman Strength - Passive** 』

 **A skill granted to those who have come to surpass an ordinary human's physical limit and have gained immense physical strength.**

《 **15 % increase in Physical Strength** 》

《 **10 % increase in Physical Damage** 》

《 **10 % increase in Physical Defense** 》

《 **The chances of you being stunned or dazed are greatly lowered** 》

《 **You can lift and wield objects much heavier than your own body weight]**

Then was dexterity.

 **Ding!**

 **The skill** 『 **Swift Structure** 』 **has been created through DEX rising above 50!**

『 **Swift Structure - Passive** 』

 **A skill granted to those who have come to surpass an ordinary human's reflexes and have gained incredible agility.**

《 **15 % increase in Physical Reflexes** 》

《 **10 % increase in Movement Speed** 》

《 **10 % increase in Attack Speed** 》

《 **Your physical and mental perception speed has greatly increased** 》

《 **Your body's natural speed has quickened, allowing for high agility movement both offensively and defensively** 》

And finally vitality.

 **Ding!**

 **The skill** 『 **Longevity** 』 **has been created through VIT rising above 50!**

『 **Longevity – Passive** 』

 **A skill granted to those who have come to surpass an ordinary human's stamina, granting the user increased longevity.**

《 **15 % increase in Physical Stamina** 》

《 **10 % increase in HP Regeneration** 》

《 **You are able to endure physical and mental fatigue for much longer periods of time** 》

《 **Your physical youth has been extended** 》

《 **Your total HP has been increased by 500** 》

Jee-Han had no words to describe the indescribable emotion he was feeling at this moment as he gazed at his new passive skills. He could feel his body changing as the light muscles he had before tightened and condensed themselves repeatedly. Despite his muscle mass slightly increasing, Jee-Han didn't feel any heavier and instead, felt even lighter than before and felt capable of jumping straight to the moon. He didn't just become physically stronger and faster, he also became much livelier as he felt his body brimming full of unused energy just waiting to explode!

"This is incredible...!" Jee-Han looked at his hands and legs several times as he took in his modified physical body. You couldn't see it through his jackets or jeans but his muscled had become incredibly toned from his chest all the way down to his hamstrings, as if he had been training in the gym for years. He subconsciously moved his hand to the bottom of his shirt and lifted it up, his eyes widening in disbelief at the beautiful six pack abs that surfaced over his stomach.

"...I finally have them! T-The legendary six pack!" Jee-Han roared in delight as he couldn't wait to get home and rub it in the faces of Sun-Il, Sae-Young, and the geezer who always made fun of him for being scrawny. They wouldn't be calling him that anymore after getting a good luck at his delicious six pack!

Calming himself down, Jee-Han coughed in order to clear the awkward mood after his short outburst and tried to focus back on learning the tome that he was holding in his arms as a smirk appeared over his face.

"Alright, let's try this again" Jee-Han said confidently as he clicked confirm and learned the entire volume, an array of knowledge and history flowing into his head. His body was entrapped in a golden light as he levitated off of the ground as if he was ascending to some higher plan of existence.

A few seconds passed before the light began to fade and he slowly descended back onto the ground, with several new messages appearing before him.

 **Ding!**

 **You have learned** 『 **Tome of the Senbu: Vol. I!** 』

 **Some of the history of the clan has been transferred into your memories.**

 **Due to the discovery of one of the supplementary skills of the** 『 **Senbu Spirit Technique** 』 **, its level has increased by 2!**

 **You have learned one of the six disciplines of Senbu,** 『 **Senpo** 』 **!**

 **You have learned one of the six disciplines of Senbu,** 『 **Senkai** 』 **!**

 **Your SP has increased by 500!**

 **Due to the discovery of a spiritual tome, you have awakened the hidden stat "Willpower", the manifestation of a person's soul and inner determination. This stat will influence the strength and speed of all SP related skills.**

 **"Willpower" is a fixed stat and cannot be raised through the use of spending stat points.**

 **You have gained the title** 『 **Senbumoon Disciple** 』 **!**

"...What in the hell?"

Jee-Han blinked several times as if he had misread the notifications that he now saw before him. Ignoring the increase in level in the spirit technique, the new skills he learnt that Haku had used to toy with him, and even the new title that granted him a twenty percent increase in attack speed and damage towards Senbumoon Related skills; what really shocked Jee-Han was the awakening of a new stat. Weren't there only supposed to be six stats?

Immediately, he checked his status.

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Wielder of Divine Ki》  
 **Level** : 39

 **HP** : 3030/3030  
 **MP** : 4810/4810  
 **SP** : 1150/1150

 **STR** : 77 (50 + 55 %)  
 **VIT** : 77 (50 + 55 %)  
 **DEX** : 77 (50 + 55 %)  
 **INT** : 79 (51 + 55 %)  
 **WIS** : 83 (54 + 55 %)  
 **LUK** : 55  
 **WIL** : 59 (39 + 55 %)

 **Available Points** : 11

 **Money:** 7,575,006

"...So I really did gain a new stat" It was hard to believe but the stat page wouldn't lie to him so Jee-Han had no choice but to accept the reality before him as he smiled, a content expression that he hadn't shown in a very long time. He didn't know why but he had a feeling that his Willpower attribute had grown significantly during his battle with Haku, as Jee-Han was only able to survive and endure that encounter through nothing but sheer willpower.

"...I really have to thank that guy, even if he was a handsome asshole"

Haku just may have been one of Jee-Han's greatest stepping stones towards becoming stronger. Closing the status, Jee-Han was itching to try out the two new skills that he learnt as he had already seen for himself how amazing they were under Haku's control.

Just as he was about to, a new notification appeared before him.

 **You have cleared the trial within this Instant Dungeon**

 **You shall now be transported back to reality**

Without any warning, the dimension that Jee-Han was standing in crumbled and twisted its shape into the familiar setting of the Library he was just in before as Jee-Han slowly looked around to confirm his surroundings.

"I'm really back..."

Honestly, Jee-Han had lost complete track of time when he was stuck in there as he felt that battle must have taken almost an entire day to complete. Checking his watch, Jee-Han's eyes widened as he saw that only an hour had passed in real time, which meant that he must have been inside a time diluted Illusion Barrier.

"It's not that weird since the Chunbumoon also has one, and so do the Yunhonmoon probably"

Ignoring that for now, Jee-Han walked out of the space between the book shelves and looked around to see only a few people that were going about their daily lives, clueless as to the battle that took place awhile ago. He really did feel sorry for those unaware of the Abyss as Jee-Han believed that being ignorant of such matters was dangerous due to being unable to protect yourself if something ever happened.

In any case, he didn't have time to worry about them as he made his way to the exit of the Library and contemplated on what his next move should be. Since he obviously couldn't try out those new moves here in front of these people and that his training with the Chunbumoon wasn't that far off time wise, he decided he'd just head there a bit early.

Walking right out of the library, Jee-Han's aim was to head back to the railway station but that plan was tossed right out the window as he heard a familiar nagging voice call out to him.

"There you are!"

Jee-Han immediately stopped and groaned at the voice " _Shit that's right, I forgot that she was here too..._ "

How could Jee-Han have possibly remembered that Yuri was following him after he just got through fighting such an intense battle?

Turning his head, Jee-Han's excited mood from earlier died down as he saw none other than Mae Yuri-Sook, the smartest girl in his high school approach him with a rather desperate expression on her usually composed face.

Once Yuri had finally caught up with Jee-Han, she brushed her straight black hair out of her eyes and crossed her arms while glaring at him.

"You mind explaining to me where you have been for the past hour?"

"...Excuse me?"

Jee-Han didn't know whether he should laugh or cry from Yuri's comment. Just who the hell did she think she was asking about his own business?

"You heard me. I saw that you entered the Library and followed you but then, you suddenly disappeared without a trace! I searched the entire building and couldn't find you! Isn't that a bit suspicious? I mean, it's not that big of a building" Yuri narrowed her eyes suspiciously towards Jee-Han and found herself being surprised by his subtle change in posture and tone. He seemed... different, as if he had grown up a bit as she noticed his tone of voice was much more confident and not as unmotivated as it had been before.

" _...What in the world happened to him? And is it my imagination or has he become taller?_ " It was truly a bizarre sight for someone to suddenly grow a few more inches but weirder things had happened to Yuri and she cast it aside for now as she awaited Jee-Han's response.

"...Did you just admit that you were stalking me?" Jee-Han didn't process anything after Yuri had claimed that she had followed him.

"...W-What are you talking about? I-I said no such thing!" Yuri seemed to realize her own mistake as she quickly tried to deny the claim but Jee-Han wasn't buying it as he started laughing.

"So you spent an entire hour looking for me? I never knew you liked me so much" He spat sarcastically, earning Yuri's rage as she stomped her feet with a face beat read from embarrassment.

"I-I'd never stoop as low to follow a geek like you! I just... coincidentally saw you! Yes, that's right!"

"Uh huh..." Naturally, Jee-Han didn't believe her excuse for one second but found that it was increasingly annoying to get tangled up with anything related to Yuri and so he started walking in a different direction.

"H-Hey, just where do you think you're going!" Yuri shouted towards the walking Jee-Han.

"I don't see how that's any of your business" Jee-Han didn't even bother turning around as he just continued forward.

Yuri felt insulted beyond belief as she had never been ignored like this before in her entire life. If it was anyone else, she wouldn't have cared in the slightest but the fact that it was Jee-Han, the game slacker of all people made her blood boil and she chased after him.

"Damn it, I said wait!" Yuri shouted but found that Jee-Han wasn't listening as he turned a corner. Just as she quickened her pace and passed the corner as well, she felt as if she was colliding into a brick wall and fell back onto her bottom with a large thud.

"Jeez that hurt.. hey, why don't you watch you're going!" Yuri shouted absentmindedly, but soon wished she hadn't as she saw the identity of the person she had bumped into.

"..The fuck did you just say?"

Yuri felt her knees tremble when she saw the appearance of an incredibly tall korean man with tattoo's all over his body, an angry frown plastered over his face at the dropped cigarette on the floor. Accompanied behind him were four other fearful men who, while weren't as intimidating or as big as the first guy, still had the appearances of high school troublemakers as they all had matching tattoo's, wore loose clothing, and had a mixture of both annoyance and lust on their faces.

"Who's this bitch?"

"I don't know but she's got some real balls to run into Hei-Ran like that"

"She's fine as hell, what school does she go to?"

Several random comments flooded in between the four gathered teenagers as they began to surround the frightened Yuri who looked rattled and scared by their approach.

"W-What do you want?" She asked hesitantly.

"Shouldn't we hear an apology come out of your mouth before asking us what we want? Didn't your parents teach your any manners? Huh?"

"I..I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going..." Yuri's earlier bratty attitude and arrogance was nowhere to be seen as she meekly answered one the thugs who leaned his head forward.

"That's much better" He answered back before running his eyes all over Yuri's body, the perversion and lust in his eyes unmistakable. "So cutie, you got a name?"

"...Y-Yuri..."

"Oh! I once knew a Yuri!" One of the teenagers said with a wide grin as he pounded his fist, a terrifying smile now covering his face. "She was a real bitch, so I knocked her teeth out and made her eat shit"

Yuri's entire body felt a cold chill run down her spine at those words as she hastily backed up but ended up crashing into the feet of one of the teens who ruthlessly grabbed her by her hair.

"L-Let go! I-It hurts so let go!" Yuri screamed as she tried to escape his grasp but was unable to as the teen snickered.

"Hei-Ran, you got any plans for her?" The man asked the clear leader of this group who looked impassive of the situation.

"...Not really, but I am a bit annoyed that this bitch made me drop my smoke"

"Oh? Then that means we can some fun with this one right? It shouldn't take long and then we can head to the arcade later"

"S-Somebody help!" Yuri shouted with all her might, as while they may have been covered by the corner of the Library, she was sure that someone would hear her if she screamed loud enough. However, no matter how loud she screamed, nobody answered her call and she felt that something was off. Wouldn't they normally cover her mouth in a situation like this to prevent people from interfering?

Seemingly understanding what she was curious about, Hei-Rain smirked arrogantly as he lightly slapped Yuri's cheeks.

"You dumbass. You probably don't even understand that we're in a separate space right now do you?"

"W-What?" Yuri endured the light pain in her cheeks as she tried to comprehend what the man was saying.

One of the teenagers in the back laughed as he placed both his arms behind his back.

"Yup, Hei-Ran has what we call a special power that lets him create a space like this. You can scream or run as much as you want too, nobody will come save you"

Yuri paled when she heard those words as while she would normally brush such nonsense as the ramblings of a retard, she had already seen a gigantic wolf beast and had an easier time believing anything outside of normal common sense.

"So with things like that, let's start the show!" One of the men said as he threw Yuri against the wall as the others pinned her down.

"N-No! Stop it! Let me go! Please!" Yuri's desperate cries were ignored as the teenagers laughed, with one of them ripping her buttoned shirt wide open and ran his hands all throughout her body. He licked his lips deliciously, as if he was about to dive into a glorious feast and just as he was about too, an annoyed voice came from behind the group.

"Yeah, so I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't turn this story into an R rated piece of literature"

"...Huh?"

All of the men turned around simultaneously as they saw the figure of another guy standing behind them with a casual expression on his face. The only one who was actually glad to see him was Yuri as she tearfully screamed towards him.

"H-Han Jee-Han!" Her tears were falling and she didn't care if he was a geek or a cheater; she couldn't have been happier to see him at this very moment.

"And just who the hell are you supposed to be punk?" one of the annoyed teenagers asked in a threatening tone.

In response, a smile curved onto the face of Jee-Han as his desire of wishing to test out the new skills he had acquired just presented itself beautifully.

"I'm just a simple gamer who just found a low class mob to play with "

* * *

 **A/N: What a crazy battle! Did any of you expect Jee-Han to pull off such an insane idea to win his battle against Haku? If you did, then you must be as crazy as he is haha. So as you saw in the chapter, Jee-Han's weakness was indeed his over reliance on magic casting as it left him completely vulnerable when it didn't work. As such, Haku drilled into Jee-Han the benefits of being proficient in close combat quarters and Jee-Han will now develop a unique fighting style to him that revolves around both magic casting and hand to hand combat. I'm sure you all will love the direction I'm going to be taking with Jee-Han in the future, especially regarding how he'll learn the other Senbumoon secret skills and use those in his style.**

 **Crafting will be coming up soon perhaps? Jee-Han can now see the ingredients of the items he observes, which will play a huge part in how he can craft items so be patient on that. As for the weapon he'll use, hehe you'll love what I have in store for that as it will certainly be something only Jee-Han could have thought of.**

 **Yes, Proficiency Rank's are a thing now. If you've played enough games, you should be aware that a skill's technical level is different from it's Proficiency Rank, which is more of a gauge of how skillful Jee-Han becomes of that skill. However, unlike technical levels that all skills possess, not every skill has a Proficiency Rank as there are some skills that Jee-Han will not become more proficient in no matter how much he grinds them, such as Observe, or the Yunhon Soul Recovery, or I.D Create. Or to make it easier, most passives have Proficiency Ranks while most active skills don't.**

 **Final words, next chapter will be a very heavy chapter from a plot stand point and it will involve the mysterious feeling that Jee-Han sensed when he visited the Yunhonmoon in Chapter 17. This chapter was longer than I intended but it was necessary to include all of the details regarding Jee-Han's battle. That's all I have to say for now!**

 **Look forward to the next one!**

 **Name** : Han Jee-Han  
 **Class:** The Gamer  
 **Title** :《Wielder of Divine Ki》  
 **Level** : 39 (↑4 UP)

 **Element** **Affinity** :  
• **Nature** \- 20  
• **Earth** \- 83  
• **Darkness** \- 12

 **HP** : 3030/3030  
 **MP** : 4810/4810  
 **SP** : 1150/1150

 **STR** : 77 (↑26 UP)  
 **VIT** : 77 (↑20 UP)  
 **DEX** : 77 (↑23 UP)  
 **INT** : 79 (↑3 UP)  
 **WIS** : 83 (↑6 UP)  
 **LUK** : 55 (↑5 UP)  
 **WIL** : 59 (NEW)

 **Available Points** : 11  
 **Money:** 7,575,006

* * *

 **Skills**

 **Offensive:**  
• Energy Bolt (Active) Lv: 2  
• Mana Arrow (Active) Lv: 2  
• Spiral Javelin (Active) Lv: 2  
• Life Drain (Active) Lv: 1  
• Blazing Spiral Javelin (Active) Lv: 2  
• Vine Control (Active) Lv: 4 **  
**• Meteor Shot (Active) Lv: 5 **  
**• Vine Drain (Active) Lv: 2

 **Defensive:  
** • Mana Shield (Active) Lv: 8 **  
**• Steel Skin (Active) Lv: 3  
• Senpo (Active) Lv: MAX **«NEW»**  
• Senkai (Active) Lv: MAX **«NEW»**

 **Support:  
** • Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) Lv: 10 **  
**• Observe (Active) Lv: MAX **  
**• Spirit Channel (Active) Lv: MAX  
• Sensory (Passive) Lv: MAX  
• Replication (Active) Lv: 12 **«↑4 UP»**  
• Senbu Spirit Technique (Active) Lv: 5 **«↑4 UP»**

 **Resistances and Masteries:  
** • Physical Endurance (Passive) Lv: MAX **«↑45 UP»  
** • Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) Lv: 5  
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive/Rank B) Lv: 15 **«↑10 UP»**  
• Sword Mastery (Passive) Lv: 5  
• Earth Magic Mastery (Passive Active) Lv: MAX

 **Miscellaneous:  
** • ID Create (Active) Lv: 10 **  
**• ID Escape (Active) Lv: 9 **  
**• Shadow Step (Active) Lv: 3


End file.
